


High School's not for Heroes

by Hecate1412



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Human squip, Isolation, Jeremy did nothing wrong, Post Musical story, Powerless AU, Powerless!Jeremy, Rare Pair, Super Villians, They're all friends now, This is a mix of musical canon and book canon, but also the musical story didn't really happen, kind of, secret, slow updates because life is busy, superhero au, that first part of "Be more chill part 2"
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2018-11-10 11:08:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 38,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11125815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hecate1412/pseuds/Hecate1412
Summary: "His name is Sebastian Qu-Ucal Ishida Pastore," Jeremy snapped sick of his so-called friends questioning him about where he's been like they actually cared. "And while you all have been fluttering around, avoiding me and missing rehearsals, he's treated me like a real friend!""Jeremy-""No!" he threw his script across the stage. "I'm done. Let me know when you all want to tell me what has actually been going on lately." He stormed out of the auditorium. Christine wanted to go after him, but she'd frozen when he mentioned his new friend. She glanced nervously at the other four heroes she fought beside regularly, realizing they were now facing a situation worse than anything they'd ever faced before."He's friends with the Squip."  Jeremy was friends with the rumored super villain of all super villains, and it had happened without any of them realizing. "Some friends we are.""So what are we going to do about it?" Rich asked. Christine didn't have an answer. They had to protect Jeremy, but they couldn't give away their secret identities either. If anything, that would put him in more danger."I--I don't know, but we'll figure it out. We always do." She just hoped they wouldn't be too late.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! 
> 
> So this AU prompt was from @monsterunderthefedora on tumblr. It might have strayed a little from the few posts they posted, but their posts were the inspiration. The story itself is a mix of canon between the musical and the book. For people who have read the book, and for those who haven't, I copied the format they used for cussing (i'm sure a few might have slipped through and they probably won't actually cuss a lot because I don't, but that's the format). 
> 
> Anyway, I would like you to know that i have been in this fandom for three days and I am already writing FanFiction. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

It was another normal day at Middle Borough High school…which is to say that it was another insane day from the perspective of Jeremy Heere. It had been like this his entire life though, so technically it could still be classified as normal. It’s what he gets for being the only normal person in a sea full of abnormality? Are you keeping up? No? Maybe straight to the point is a better tactic.

Jeremy Heere is considered a normal high school Junior (special emphasis on the normal). His classmates and friends are considered extraordinary. They can do things with their mind, create portals to far away places just by picturing the location in their head, F_ _ _ _ _ g Fly (it wasn’t really flying, more like rocketing in the air and hovering back down to the ground)! In this world, technically his friends were the normal one. People with powers were a normal occurrence in this world. And since he didn’t have one, he was the weird one.

“It’s really not that bad,” Michael said when he noticed his best friend falling into another slump. It happened often as of late. It couldn’t be helped. His friends tended to fuss over him, be a little over protective. A year ago, they could have all cared less about Jeremy and his problems, but S_ _ _ went down at the end of last year and they all bonded over the mutual tragedy (one they all decided never to mention again, so _DO NOT_ bother asking because no one will tell you).

“I feel like I have six new babysitters,” Jeremy huffed falling against his locker. “And they’re not that stealthy either! Rich trailed me the entire way to school today! When I confronted him, he denied it. When I asked Jenna, since—ya know—she knows everything, she claimed someone made a threat against my life! Who would threaten _my_ life? I don’t do anything other than hang out with you and practice for the school play!”

“They just want to protect their friend.”

“They’re making their friend feel like he can’t do anything right, that’s what they’re doing. I appreciate that they care, but I can take care of myself even without a super power! I mean, just because I’m the only person in the high school who can’t walk through walls, disappear, or fly doesn’t mean I’m helpless.”

“Have you tried telling them this?”

“Multiple times.”

“Hmmm,” the warning bell rang overhead signaling the almost start of class. There was a flurry of movement as students started rushing, strolling or dashing to class (gotta protect that perfect attendance or something).

“Well, I’ll see you at lunch then.” He waved then pulled his headphones over his ears.

“See ya.” Jeremy watch Michael walk away, before heading in the opposite direction. Even Michael had an ability. Sure it could only really be used for his own enjoyment since all he could do was snag radio signals from the air and connect them to his headphones, but it was more than what Jeremy was capable of.

Somehow Jeremy got stuck in a first-period math class again, but it wasn’t all bad. Christine Canigula shared a class with him again, so did Jenna and Rich. They all watched him as he entered, and Jeremy avoided all eye contact till he was in his seat towards the back of the room. _Another day in the life of awkward me._

“Yo, tall a_ _, how’s your morning?”

“Wouldn’t you know since you tailed me to school?”

“Still don’t know what you’re talking about, dude.” Of course he didn’t. Jeremy gave up on him and turned to Jenna. She sat diagonally from his desk, and, as usual, she was scrolling through her phone.

“Any info about the threat on my life?” he asked, “Like news that it was a prank or something so everyone will stop fussing over me?”

“They’re just worried Jeremy, and no.” Jenna had a useful ability, one Jeremy considered similar to Michael’s. She was a master class informant. Her ability allowed her to manipulate any kind of electromagnetic signal and hack the feed. You have a text on your phone you don’t anyone to see? Jenna can find it. Calling your drug dealer in the back parking lot behind the dumpster? Jenna is probably listening in. There was a healthy level of paranoia at this school because of her, and she really knows everything about everything.

“That’s what Michael said.” He huffed turning forward. He spotted Christine glancing back at him over her shoulder and he gave her a smile. He was still crushing on her hard but he’d been temporarily friend-zoned last year. After the catastrophe that was her relationship with Jake, she said she wanted a breather. But there was hope! When Jeremy had asked her out she’d turned him down, but said maybe sometime in the future if she wanted to start another relationship. For now, he was content with being friends. At least he could talk to her comfortably now.

The late bell rang and Mrs. Coffrey began the class in the worst way possible!

“Pop Quiz!” She yelled and everyone moaned. Mrs. Coffrey wasn’t the most liked teacher in school, at least not by the people who had her towards the end of the day. She was an older woman in her late thirties, but at the present moment, she looked no older than an 8th grader. It was the curse of her ability, which was absolutely useless, but it made her age with the rising and setting of the sun…and it restarted every day. So, while Jeremy and his class had a young spry teacher who sounded like a twelve-year-old but talked like an adult, others had an elderly teacher who looked like she should have retired long ago. And being elderly wasn’t fun. Mrs. Coffrey became crankier and less bearable throughout the day. So, in a sense, it was a blessing that Jeremy had a morning math class with her, but at the same time, it was way too early to be calculating anything.

The quiz wasn’t too difficult. Jeremy wasn’t the best mathematician, (not like the human calculator, Jeff, in the period after him) but he knew enough to keep a low B. As soon as all the quizzes had been handed in, Mrs. Coffrey dragged her stool over to the white board and started teaching. Cue everyone zoning out. This was the easiest math class they could take as Juniors, and Middle school aged Coffrey was still one of the best math teachers at the high school (which isn’t saying much since their math department sucked), so she taught in a way that made everything easy, which is only the people who struggled paid attention. Jeremy zoned in and out of focus.

After listening to Coffrey drone on about function’s in a voice to squeaky to fall asleep to for an indistinguishable amount of time, Jenna called out. It sent a shock throughout the room as everyone was suddenly on high alert.

“Supervillain attack in New York!” she yelled, which earned an immediate groan from half the class and a loud bang as Jeremy’s head slammed against his desk. “The news says the villain, some spider based creep, attacked the city. He was foiled, but his parting words were about his underling and how he would be back for revenge. It also says that many mechanical spiders were destroyed during the confrontation, but a number are still at large. If any are spotted call hero services immediately.”

This time the entire class groaned instead of a few. Jeremy was almost certain he heard students from other classrooms groan too, because news spread like fire on gasoline around here. The price of living in a small town. There was another price, aside from fast traveling gossip, that came with living in the New Jersey town because whenever something happens in New York, the aftermath somehow always miraculously ends up affecting them. Which meant giant mechanical spiders were probably on route to the city. It also meant his friends were probably not going to leave his side, which was the price Jeremy paid of not having an ability. He could practically feel all their eyes on him and he left his head face down on his desk to avoid meeting their gaze

The next two classes passed in a blur and words and voices. For the most part, everyone was waiting for the giant mechanical spiders to descend on the city and wreak havoc. Everyone was also anticipating their imminent demise by Borough’s own super hero squad lead by none other than the amazing and spectacularly beautiful Mind Warp! Jeremy was crushing on her hard, which was completely permitted. Per Christine’s rules, they weren’t even hooking up so it was perfectly acceptable for him to be head-over-heels crushing on another girl…even though the other girl likely didn’t know he existed.

Mind Warp and her gang were the primary heroes of Borough. Their identities were unknown, but whenever they were needed they were there. Mind warp had some type of physical astral projection power. It was like duplication, but cooler.

Firefly was a high powered telekinetic. You could always tell when she’s using her abilities because there’s this yellow aura that shimmers around her eyes. Chloe’s a telepathic too, but she can only move around small items (which does so much more damage than Jeremy ever thought possible). Firefly can lift entire buildings with her mind, and she can use her power to make herself fly. Chloe tried it once and all she could really do was launch herself into the air, hover for a second, then drop back to the earth like a brick.

Vortex was one of two guys on the team. He had a dimensional manipulation power. He could distort the space between objects, or at least that’s what Jeremy had observed. It’s like throwing a baseball at something, but it never gets there, like the space between them just keeps stretching into infinity. It was cool to watch. He could also create portals like the video game. Jake like to brag that he might as well be a superhero because he could create warp holes…although that’s about all he could do and he couldn’t warp further than a mile. Jeremy learned that Jake and Chloe together were a troublesome combination. Jake would create a warp portal and Chloe would throw something through it. They don’t do it to him anymore, but it was never a fun experience.

Machete was a short dude, but super deadly. Jeremy had a theory about him, that he is invincible. He didn’t have any supernatural-like ability, in fact, he usually got around via Vortex’s portal’ during fights, but the guy was a master with blades and he was fast. Not super speed fast, but fast enough. He looked like he danced when he fought, and he had a loud mouth and angry energy that reminded Jeremy of Rich.

The last visible hero of their squad was a hero named Phoenix girl. Jeremy had seen the worst things happen to this girl. She was crushed by a building, crushed by a car, impaled by a spear; he lost count of how many times this girl should have died, but still, she always returned for the next battle. She fought with a lot more experience than the others, leaving Jeremy to wonder why she didn’t lead the team. She worked primarily with combustion. She could snap her fingers and small controlled explosions would interrupt where ever she needed them. She was probably the most mysterious of the group.

There were probably other characters who helped the heroes from the background, but they never showed their faces with the heroes, so all Jeremy could do was speculate. And when the heroes first began making a name for themselves in the city, he’d been dead set on learning their identities, and he’d narrowed it down to his current friends but it wasn’t possible. He’s been around Christine, Chloe, Brooke, Rich, and Jake while the heroes were fending off a threat. It had happened multiple times too, so he eventually had to scrap the idea, and he stopped pursuing it as intently as he had before.

The lunch bell was a wonderful sound because this meant Jeremy could stop thinking about the difference between Pathos, Logos, and Ethos from this story he didn’t care about and still hadn’t read. Typically, he would bee-line for the cafeteria where his friends would be waiting at their usual table, but Jeremy turned the opposite way and headed for the stairwell. Everyone was already on high alert and after Jenna’s announcement he was sure someone would start tasting his food to make sure it wasn’t poisoned ( not really, they weren’t that protective…he hoped). Jeremy really did love his friends. Freshman year he never thought he’d ever be friends with the star athlete, the three prettiest girls in school, and he’s long time crush, but here he was junior year with all their numbers saved on his phone. They were close, but sometimes they were a bit much. They were over protective like he was a toddler. And sometimes, sometimes he just needed his space.

“Tough break, huh?” Michael always knew where to find Jeremy. The roof was technically off limits, even though it had a tall fence wrapped around the ledge, but the two of them had been sneaking up there since freshman year. It was their place.

“I can’t deal with them after the attack in New York,” Jeremy admitted lying flat on the floor. There was a nice shady place the stairwell created and was usually where he sat. “They’re going to fuss over me after school at rehearsal…at least the girls will. Jake and Rich will just give me these side glances, acting like I don’t notice. I can’t handle that happening twice today Michael, I can’t! And with all these attacks in New York as of late, I feel like I’m on constant watch!”

“Well, I know what will get your mind off things.” Michael pulled out his DS and a smile lit up Jeremy's face.

“Oh, you know me so well, my dorky friend.” He pulled out his own handheld system and they spent the remainder of the lunch period yelling at each other as they raced Mario Kart.

Jeremy steeled himself for the attention he was going to get from his friends at rehearsal. He’d somehow managed to ignore them most of the day, but now he had no choice. After a deep breath, he marched into the auditorium only to find it…empty.

“Seriously?” He was never the first person to arrive. Christine basically teleported her before the final bell even finished ringing (metaphorically of course, because she didn’t have a teleportation ability). Rich and Jake were usually last, and Chloe and the others usually show up moments after Jeremy. “Maybe something’s held them all up.” He hoped this was the case because this wouldn’t be the first time they all ditched him at rehearsal, so he took a seat and waited.

Five minutes passed, then ten minutes, then fifteen. “Yup, I’ve been ditched.” It’s not like the six of them were the only ones on the cast, but they did have the leading roles so Jeremy couldn’t do much without them there other than run through his lines alone…and he could do that at home. As he left he got a notification from Jenna’s blog. Apparently, the spiders had arrived during the end of the sixth period and all after school activities had been canceled…an announcement Jeremy must have missed.

The protocol for attacks on the city was for people to stay indoors until the threat passed, but attacks were so common most people ignored protocol. Jeremy was one of them. Ability or no ability, Jeremy wasn’t necessarily afraid to be out and about during a threat. Nearly everyone in Borough had an ability that would protect them, and if Jeremy was in the vicinity of other people he’d be fine. So instead of walking the short mile across the field to his neighborhood, he decided to stroll through town. He could hear the sounds of battle off in the distance. No doubt Mind Warp and the others were kicking a_ _ but he tuned it out like most people did. Instead, he focused on the script. Despite how much his friends would fuss over him he was looking forward to today’s rehearsal. They hadn’t all been together for a run-through in a while, and it looked like he’d have to wait a little longer.

Jeremy kept his head in his script but glanced forward every few seconds to make sure he didn’t run into anyone, which was smart because he stopped just short of ramming into a guy blocking his path. He waited for the stranger to move away, but when he didn’t Jeremy had to look up only find this stranger watching him intently. He was a handsome looking guy, probably a few years older. Maybe a freshman in college? He was taller and wore black jeans and a black blazer over an electric blue tee. He oozed cool, but he was still a stranger, and Jeremy had no clue what he wanted with him.

“Come get coffee with me.” Jeremy tilted his head to the side, processing the request. It wasn’t a question or a suggestion, however; it also wasn’t a forceful demand. Jeremy wasn’t sure what to make of it, but he did quite like the sound of the stranger's voice. It was soothing and welcoming.

“No thanks,” he said stepping around the man. He figured that was the end of it, but then second later the black haired guy was at his side.

“Aww, come on. Please? Will you please go get something to drink with me?” This man was practically singing the request, and some part of Jeremy wanted to agree because why not, but—

“I don’t think my mom would approve of me going out with a complete stranger.”

“Oh well if being strangers is the problem then,” Jeremy’s path was blocked once more, “My name is Sebastian Qu-Ucal Ishida Pastore,” he declared sounding out the “e” of his last name.

“You’re initial spell ‘Squip’?” Jeremy pointed out with a short chuckle. He didn’t know why the initial were the first thing he thought about, but they were funny. “What a weird name. Signing your signature must be fun.”

“Yeah, well Sebastian is my name. Qu-Ucal is my middle name. Ishida is my mother’s maiden name. She passed away and I wanted some part of her in my name so my father let me change it.”

“Was your mother Japanese?”

“I’m Japanese,” Sebastian announced dramatically, pointing to himself. “Well, I’m part Japanese.” Jeremy laughed again.

“So, Pastore must be your father’s surname?”

“Indeed, it is. Now, you know my name, might I ask yours?”

“Jeremy Heere. That’s with two ‘Es’ then and ‘R’ then another ‘E’.”

“Attendance must be fun for you, Jeremy Heere.”

“You have no idea.”

“So now that we are no longer complete strangers, would you like to go get coffee with me?” Jeremy gave the offer some thought, he still didn’t know anything about this guy, but he wasn’t picking up a dangerous vibe. And it’s not like he had anything better to do.

“Sure, but I don’t drink coffee. How about milkshakes?” Sebastian’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, enough to make Jeremy laugh because such a large smiled looked almost uncharacteristic on his narrow face.

“Milkshakes are fine. Lead the way, Jeremy.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy just wants to practice for the play.

“You’re telling me you don’t have an ability?” Sebastian gasped. He looked both surprised and intrigued. Jeremy ignored the look and continued to speak.

“Yup, no ability, but my best friend can listen in to radio waves and another friend can create--like--holographic images of small animals. It’s really cool, it’s like they’re constructed of intangible glitter and they’re really useful for plays.

“I take it you’re in a play considering how engrossed you were in that script you were reading when we first met.”

“Yes. I’ve been doing plays since middle school. I used to be a pretty awkward guy, super shy too. I wouldn’t really talk to anyone other than Michael—“

“The best friend?”

“Yeah, my best friend. So, when I was a kid my mom complained to a therapist about how she was worried I wouldn’t make any friends because I was so shy. The therapist suggested I start acting as a method to better express myself and come out of my shell. It worked, sort of. I’m still pretty awkward, but I do have friends…at least I think I do.”

“You think you do?” Jeremy sighed.

“They’ve been missing a lot of pre-planned meetings. It feels like they’re ditching or avoiding me. I don’t think that's what they're doing, but—“ he let out a heavy breath. “Anyway, we’re doing another Shakespeare play this year. I think Shakespeare is overrated and there are a number of plays I wish Mr. Reyes would choose instead, but it’s not my decision.”

“You said you were awkward, but I don’t think that’s true, Jeremy,” Sebastian said, watching him with a fondness the teen wasn’t used to. He had led Sebastian to his favorite milkshake bar. Jake would never come here with him. He’s all about that grind, or whatever. Even if Jake did come, it was only with a group. Jeremy came here regularly with Michael, at least he used to. Michael’s had less time after school since he got that job at the radio station during the summer. He loved it too much to quit and he said he needed the money. Aside from Michael, Jeremy could sometimes convince the others to practice their lines her instead of at school.

“You seem to think I'm not awkward, but you haven’t known me very long.” Jeremy had been surprised how easy Sebastian was to talk to. He’d met new people before and he’d been a stuttering mess. It’s why his friends were limited, but talking with Sebastian was like talking to Michael, and he liked it.

“Well, maybe I’ll be able to get to know you better in the future.”

“Maybe.” Jeremy had ordered his usual chocolate fudge milkshake. Sebastian had ordered a strawberry and when they both had their shakes, Jeremy led them to a booth away from the windows and near the the back of the store.

“Did we sit back here because of your friends?” Sebastian asked when both had fallen silent for a minute.

“Yeah.” No point in lying. “Apparently there was some threat against my life on some online forum and they’re all on high alert. I didn’t want to risk them spotting us and rushing in to interrogate you. They’ll probably check in on me eventually to make sure I didn’t get sucked into the whole mechanical spider thing.” On cue, an explosion shook the walls of the store. “I dunno. I get why they’re overprotective, and I guess, in a sense, it’s my own fault. I always say that I don’t want to be a hero, that I just want to survive, but my actions betrayed my words apparently.”

“What do you mean?”

“Something happened towards the end of last year. I don’t really recall everything, my memory from the time is a little fuzzy, but apparently I launched myself into the line of battle to rescue someone and I ended up out of commission for a week.”

“You were in a coma?”

“That’s what Michael told me. After that, everyone become more friendly. They also became protective. The sad thing is that despite all the attention they give me I still somehow feel ignored. And _because_ of all the attention they give me, I end up feeling useless. It’s like they think I can’t take care of myself. I guess it’s price I pay for having no ability. ”

“You don’t look useless and I would have never guessed you didn’t have an ability unless you told me.”

“Does my lack of power change your impression of me?”

“Not at all. In fact, you living in a world without an ability makes you all the more superior in my book. Other people use a power to get through life; you only use your brain and your own physical ability. It’s much more impressive.” Jeremy gave him a short smile, but it quickly faded. “Does your lack of an ability bother you that much?”

“It usually doesn’t.” Which was true. Jeremy had never had a problem with being normal. He had Michael and he had his video games and he was a loser nobody paid attention to. Aside from his lack of social status, he had a simple life, but then he sort of became popular. He made friends, and they hovered in ways Michael never did and he wasn’t sure how to handle it. “I don’t have a problem with being ability-less. I don’t. I’m content in my life. My only problem is my friends and the way they treat me.”

“Like you’ll trip and die unless they’re there to help you?”

“Yes. But enough about me. I feel like all we’ve talked about is me and my problems. What about you? Do you have an ability?” 

“I’m a technopath.”

“You’re a—“

“Let me see your phone.” Sebastian held out his hand looking like he expected Jeremy to hand it over, but the teen hesitated.

“Why?”

“I just want to give a demonstration.”

“Why not use your phone then?” Sebastian studied Jeremy like he was a puzzle he couldn’t quite figure out, but smiled at him kindly.

“Well, what if I mess up? I wouldn’t want to destroy _my_ phone!”

“But destroying mine’s okay?”

“I can sense your phone in your back pocket, Jeremy. It’s prehistoric. It would want me to put it out of its misery if it were a sentient being.”

“Oh, ha-ha.” Jeremy conceded and surrendered his cell.

“Wow, it’s worse than I thought! Of course you _could_ do worse, but this is a grandma phone.”

“A what?” Sebastian slid the phone up to reveal the keyboard, then closed it again.

“Most modern day phones are touch screen and have access to the internet. This has no touch screen and has both a number pad and a keyboard. They primarily make these phones for people who can’t understand the touch screen technology which is usually old people; hence the term Grandma phone.”

“Well if you’re going to insult it, I’ll just take it back.” He tried to reclaim his phone, but it was held out of his reach.

“Ah, ah, ah. I’m going to show off now, and you’re going to watch.”

“Well since you’re holding my phone hostage I suppose I don’t have much of a choice.” There was another glimpse of that look Jeremy kept noticing. It was as if he wasn’t reacting in a way Sebastian expected. At the same time, the looks were so brief he assumed he was just being paranoid. Probably the after effect of going to school with Jenna.

“Ready?”

“Yup. Let’s see the technopathy.” Sebastian held the phone out flat on his palm. After a deep breath, tendrils of blue electricity crackled out from around his hand latching onto the phone and pulling it apart piece by piece. Jeremy stared amazed as each piece floated around in a small electromagnetic field a few inches above the table. Sebastian looked absolutely relaxed but focused. His pupils glowed brighter than his shirt, and Jeremy found himself staring, mesmerized by the color.

“Wow…” He wasn’t sure if he was saying that because of the ability or because of Sebastian’s eyes. His head felt a little foggy, like he couldn’t think clearly, but he kept watching Sebastian. The man scrunched his face suddenly, and Jeremy’s phone was put back together instantly.

“Jeremy, has your phone been acting weird recently?” He blinked the fog from his mind, then took a moment to process the question.

“Acting weird? I mean, it’s prehistoric, remember?”

“Jeremy, I’m serious. Has it been glitching out, dropping calls, anything at all?”

“I guess. It’s usually a pretty sturdy phone, but it’s been bugging out recently.”

“No surprise. Despite their general lack of advanced technology, these phones are designed to last, both technologically and physically. From what I could tell you take good care of it and if you continue to do so it should last you another couple of years.”

“Really?”

“Well, it would have if someone hadn’t interfered.” He held up a small black flat disk. “Do you know what this is?”

“Can I assume you’re going to tell me?”

“It’s a Gps tracker, they’re not built into phones like these, and even if they were, it wouldn’t be something large like this.” Jeremy opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out. He did that a few more times before opting to drink his milkshake while he sorted through his thoughts. “I take it you didn’t know it was there?”

“No, but I know who put it there.” It had to have been Jenna. The only other person he knew who could insert it was Michael, but he wouldn't because he wasn’t paranoid like the others. And Jenna would have done it if Brooke or Christine asked her to. “I can’t believe they—no, no. I can believe they would do this.”

“Should I shut it off?”

“Yes.” He wondered what would happen if it suddenly shut off. The echoes of the distant battleground had begun to fade over the past half hour but the fight was still going on, so if any of them were watching the GPS feed, would they panic since it disappeared in the middle of a threat? A spark of electricity struck the device and it died, and the two waited in silence to see if anything would happen. Jeremy almost expected someone to come storming into the store, but it wasn’t that extreme. It was a phone call. Jeremy waited out four rings before answering.

“Yo, Jeremy speaking,” he hummed.

 _“Jeremy, where are you right now?_ ” Christine was on the other line. She sounded out of breath and worried.

“I’m out, why? What happened?”

_“I just… My mom wanted me home right after school because of the spider threat, and I wasn’t sure if anyone else had checked to see if you got back home safe.”_

“Well, I didn’t hear the announcement about after school everything being canceled so I went to the auditorium for rehearsals and no one was there. Then I was depressed because I was actually looking forward to rehearsal today even if you all were going to fuss over me because of the threat Jenna mentioned. Honestly, it was a bit of a let down”

 _“Yeah, I feel. You know me, I love play rehearsal.”_ Jeremy smiled.

“I know, Christine.”

_“We were thinking of maybe meeting up later tonight to make up for missing rehearsal today.”_

“I would, but my mom’s more of a worry wart than you are. She’ll want me home early today.”

_“Alright. I’m sorry about rehearsal today. I’ll be there tomorrow I swear.”_

“We’ll see. I’ll see you tomorrow. Oh, and Christine?”

 _“Yes.”_  

“I wish you all would trust me more. I’m not as helpless as you think.” He hung up and put the phone down.

“I bet she didn’t mention the tracker,” Sebastian hummed, taking a sip of his shake. He didn’t look remotely surprised.

“Why would she? Clearly they didn’t want me to know.”

“Doesn’t it make you mad?”

“Not mad. A little disappointed and a touch hurt, but not mad. It’s annoying, yes, but still expected. Like I mentioned before, they’re protective because of what happened last year.”

“What if you were able to defend yourself? Would they back off?”

“I wish I could, but my mom refused to fund the learning any kind of violence even if it’s for my own defense, and the others are too busy between play rehearsals and whatever else keeps them occupied to teach me.”

“Then why don’t you give me your number?” Jeremy stared at Sebastian who looked back eagerly. Like a puppy waiting for a treat…mmm…no. That’s not the right imagery. He looked eager though like he wouldn’t drop this. Like he wouldn’t leave until Jeremy said yes…and Jeremy wanted to say yes.

“Why do you want my number?”

“Let me rephrase the question.” He thought the older teen was going to ask him politely for his number like he had before after Jeremy rejected his demand to get coffee, but he didn’t ask the question Jeremy expected. “Will you please let me call you or text you in the future to hang out? I already have your number, I snagged it when I was using my ability on your cell phone. I also added my own number if you ever wanted to text me. You can delete it if you want, but if you enjoyed this little outing as much as I did then maybe you’d like to hang out again.”

“That’s fine. I like talking to you. It’s…easy.”

“I enjoyed speaking to you as well, Jeremy Heere, but I do have to run. I must return to work. Before I leave, though, I have a proposition for you. If you do want to learn self-defense, just let me know. I happen to be well versed in the art and wouldn’t mind passing some of my knowledge down to you.”

“I’ll consider it. Thanks.” Sebastian said his farewells and left the store, while Jeremy stayed behind to finish his shake. He was aware of the goofy smile on his face, but he made no attempt to hide it. That outing had gone so much better than he anticipated, and he was looking forward to having a friend who wouldn’t hover over him like a mother hen.

Still, it was a bit strange. Jeremy wondered why Sebastian had singled him out on the sidewalk. He hadn't been the only one around, and the way they met made it seem like he’d been waiting for Jeremy. Why would anyone seek him out though? He really wasn’t anything special.

 _Oh well_.

He finished his chocolate fudge milkshake and collected his belongings to leave. He scrolled through his contacts only to learn that, sure enough, Sebastian had entered his contact info into his cell, but his number wasn’t what he was looking for. He called Christine’s number instead and waited for her to pick up.

_“Hey, Jeremy.”_

“Hey. So I can’t go over to anyone’s house tonight, but what about a video call? We could all practice lines like that.”

 _“I’ll ask around, but I’m sure it’ll work.”_ He hoped it would work. He might be frustrated his friends kept missing practice, but he still wanted the play to succeed and he was will to do what was needed to make sure it did. He just hoped the others were willing too…

“Unbe-F _ _ _ _ _g-lievable!” Jeremy yelled as he listened to Chloe’s voicemail for the fourth time. He decided to call Christine again. Their online rehearsal the night before had gone well, and Jeremy had gotten a promise from all of them that they’d be at practice the next day, but looks like they lied. He sat in the front row of the theater, listening to the dial tone as Mr. Reyes raged across the stage.

“We’re are they! Opening night is getting closer with every passing second and they are not hereeeee. Heere, you’re their friend. Where are they?” Jeremy’s response was to hold up the phone, which had switched from the ringing to the automatic voicemail recording.

“Hey Christine,” he sang after the beep. He was trying to hide his frustration, but was having limited success. “This is--I don’t know--the tenth time I’ve called. I’ve called the others at least five times each as well. You said you would be here, and Mr. Reyes is not happy. This is the second day in a row.”

“Where are the understudies? They'll a lease show up when required, yes?” 

“We don’t have enough understudies!” Jeremy called to the drama teacher. “We barely had enough people for the play to begin with!” Mr. Reyes went off to terrorize the crew, eventually yelling at someone to fetch him a hot pocket in hopes it would help him think of a remedy for this situation. Jeremy returned to the call. “So, in case you haven’t picked up on this, I’m pissed, the director is pissed, and so are the rest of the cast and crew. I did the play partially for me, and partially for you and the others. You said you wanted something we could all do together, and I jumped through hoops to make it happen, but I guess you don’t actually care. If you did, you’d show up. That’s all I’ve got to say.” He hung up the phone.

“Jeremy—“

“I don’t know!” he snapped before the older man could get the question out. “I don't know where they are, but I know all my lines, Mr. Reyes. If I have no one to practice with, do I really need to stay here?” Jeremy just wanted to leave. He understood everyone had lives outside of this play, but honestly. He was sick of this.

“Fine. Spread the word, though. We’re having morning rehearsal tomorrow. If anyone fails to show up, I will kick them from the production regardless of role. Everyone go home and reconvene tomorrow at 6 am sharp.” The auditorium cleared out quickly, but Jeremy stayed in his seat dialing a new number.

_“Jeremy Heere.”_ Jeremy couldn't contain his smile as he listened to his new friend speak his name. There really was something about his voice that Jeremy was drawn to, he wasn't sure why he felt that way, but he knew he loved listening to it. 

“Hi, Sebastian.” He answered.

_“I’m glad you called.”_

“I’m sure.”

 _“You sound unhappy.”_ Okay, so he was failing to hide the anger in his tone.

“I was stood up again at rehearsal. Reyes rescheduled to tomorrow morning, so I have the afternoon free. I was wondering if I could take you up on those self-defense lessons.”

_“Absolutely, I would be honored to offer my assistance. Are you at the high school? I can come pick you up.”_

“You don’t have to.”

_“But I want to. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. I just have to finish something with a customer and I can head over. Meet me out front.”_

“See you then.” He shouldered his bag and moved to wait outside by the roundabout. He found a spot in the shade and leaned against the wall, opting to stare into space instead of scrolling through Jenna’s blog to read the update about whatever was attacking the city today. The news had spread during second period about another attack in New York. It wasn’t mechanical spiders this time, but it was still going to cause damage and it arrived from New York sooner than yesterday’s threat.

Fifteen minutes passed, and Jeremy expected for Sebastian to arrive in whatever vehicle he drove, but instead, he was met with an out of breath Christine. Jeremy said nothing but watched as his cast mate knelt over catching her breath. Had she sprinted here? 

“I’m late,” she managed between exhales. “Super late. I’m so sorry. Especially after I promised to be here last night.”

“You _all_ promised to be here,” he reminded, looking away. “Besides, Reyes already canceled rehearsal. He moved it to tomorrow morning at 6 am. Be there or he’s kicking you out of the play.”

“I,” another breath, “heard.” Jeremy hadn’t seen her this winded before, and as much as he wanted to make sure she was okay, he also wanted to still look mad, so he kept his gaze towards the horizon.

“Everyone’s already left.”

“Jake and the others are already inside.” Her breathing was finally evening out. “I just talked to them. The six of us can practice on the stage even if no one else is here. It’ll be fine, I’m sure. So give us another chance.”

“I’ve been standing out here for fifteen minutes, Christine. They haven’t come in.”

“There’s more than one way to get into the school, Jeremy.” He didn’t believe her. He wanted to--he wanted everything to work out--but this was becoming a regular occurrence. “Jeremy, look at me.” He tried to ignore her, but Christine grabbed his face with both hands and forced him to look her in the eyes. “Let’s go practice for the play like we all promised we would.”

“My, my. I didn’t realize you were so forward.” He tried to be suave as he spoke, but heat was rising in his face and he could feel his cheeks turning beet red. _Oh, god I’m so lame!_

“Aww, look. You still get flushed and nervous when I’m this close.”

“You’re teasing me,” he deadpanned. She tapped his cheek and smiled.

“Of course I am. Let’s go.” She took his hand and led him inside. Jeremy didn’t resist. He was still upset they didn’t show on time, but he figured late was better than never. Christine let go of his hand when they entered the building, which allowed Jeremy to shoot Sebastian a quick text.

_Change of plans. The gang showed up. Going to go practice on the stage. I’ll have to postpone our lesson. Sorry._

Sebastian hadn’t responded by the time Jeremy reached the auditorium, and he didn’t bother checking when they got into the swing of rehearsal. The others had been there like Christine said, but it was a shame he had to see them to believe her. They talked about all the attacks that had been happening lately, because they were becoming far too frequent, until they were all ready to begin. Overall, it was a good practice. They stayed for two hours, going over all the scenes that needed work, and Jeremy left happier than he’d felt in a while.

It wasn’t until he got home that things took a sour turn. Sebastian had responded, but he had also sent a picture and a video. Jeremy looked at them both, confused and unable to understand what had been presented. Below the media was a single text from Sebastian.

_I thought you said they all showed up._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all are awesome! Thanks for the comments and kudos! I'm glad y'all like the story so far. I've never been good at setting up a posting schedule, but it'll try to get a new chapter out every week, sometimes it might be more than a week, sometimes it might be more than one in a week. I'll just keep you on your toes. And if ever I forget to post...just remind me. It happens sometimes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eye contact is awkward don't you think?

“I didn’t pin you as a bad boy,” Michael teased throwing his arm around Jeremy’s shoulder when he caught him in the hall. “Class is the other way.”

“I could say the same to you.” He returned as the two continued their stroll towards the schools exit. Jeremy was ditching. He’d done it before successfully, but it wasn’t a habit he’d like to develop. Besides, it was only one class, and it was a class with Christine. He hadn’t been able to confront her this morning and seeing her irritated him. Seeing her would continue to irritate him because he has more question than he did answers, and a majority of questions were centered around her.

“See, the difference between you and me,” Michael began, “is that I won’t be missing anything by leaving before the end of seventh. It’s why I took PE, instead of an actual academic class. I just show up for roll call and then Coach Fry doesn’t even notice I’m gone because he gets way too into the volleyball game.”

“You heading over to the radio station?” That’s usually where Michael was heading if he was leaving from school. He was obsessed with the job. Michael had never pinpointed an exact reason why he loved it there, but Jeremy guessed it had something to do with him constantly being around music, which was no surprise since Michael’s headphones were permanently attached to his body

“Yes, am heading to the station. Kurt texted me during lunch and asked if I could come early. Natural I said yes because it’s a perfect excuse to escape this _e_ _ hole called a school. The real question is where are you going?”

“A friend is picking me up.”

“A friend, huh? I know all your friends, Jeremy, they’re all in class.”

“Maybe I made a new one.”

“And he’s picking you up?”

“Yes.”

“Well, looks like the perfect time to meet him. But I have another important question. What about play rehearsal?”

“I don’t have to go. We practiced this morning and the after school rehearsal is punishment for the people who fail to show up regularly.” That wasn’t particularly true. After school rehearsal wasn’t punishment, but Jeremy had already spoken with Mr. Reyes that morning and explained he wouldn’t be there. It’s not like he was just ditching without warning like some other people on the cast.

"Makes sense. So what are you doing with this new and mysterious friend of yours?”

“Just hanging out I guess.” He wasn’t sure what he planned to do today with Sebastian. First and foremost he wanted an explanation for the text sent the night before. Jeremy had pestered him for hours hoping for an explanation but had no luck. Sebastian insisted they talk in person, so Jeremy told him to pick him up…well, he told Sebastian to pick him up right now.

“I’m not being replaced am I?” Michael teased.

“You? Replaced? Unheard of! You’re like my brother. My soul twin! Replacing you would be like replacing my heart, or lungs, or other organs that are necessary for my day to day function. It would kill me.”

“Technically replacing them wouldn’t kill you.”

“You know what I was getting at.”

“I do, and I feel the same, buddy, but I feel like I don’t see you as much as I usually do.”

“You have the radio station, I have the play. We’re both busy.”

“It’s no excuse!” he declared dramatically, “which is why I propose a video game date night Friday at your place.”

“Say the word and I’ll be there. Well, I’ll already be there because it’s my house, but that’s beside the point. You have yourself a date! I’ll make sure we have food worthy of the most epic vintage game marathon the world has ever seen.” He gave his best friend a wide smile and a high five. It had been a while since he and Michael hung out outside of school, so he was really looking forward to Friday night.

“So back to this mysterious friend of yours, what kind of ride does he have?”

“What? Afraid he’s going to show you up?”

“I drive a PT Cruiser, Jer. Nothing is ever going to show up that beauty.”

“Don’t you me everything is going to show up that beauty?” Michael slapped him softly on the back of the head.

“I don’t want to hear that from a guy who doesn’t even have a car!”

“It’s the truth though, and you know it!”

“I do still cart you around town on a regular basis. You sure you want to insult your ride’s car? Because if you really think it’s that lame, you can totally just walk everywhere.”

“No! No, no, Michael. Your car is the coolest. The absolute most awesome vehicle in existence. No other vehicle is superior! Of course, the coolest part of the car is the driver!”

“Suck up,” he teased, nudging him in his side.

“Dude, of course! Not only are you the coolest driver of all PT Cruiser drivers, but your also the only person in the city willing to cart me around and do ridiculous s_ _ _ with me.” They snuck out a side entrance of the school and looped around front to the parking lot. Michael’s car was off in the furthest reaches of the lot as to avoid any school cops who’d potentially attempt to stop him from leaving.

“You know, you never told me what car this friend of yours drives.” Before Jeremy could open his mouth to explain how he didn’t know, someone called out his name. Both boy’s attention shifted to the vehicle parked on the curb, jaw dropping.

“Holy—“ “

That was unexpected.”

“Have you ever ridden on one of those?”

“Have you ever been this close to one of those?” The answer to both questions was no. Michael put both arms on his mate's shoulders and gave him a mournful look. “It was nice knowing you, Jer. When you eventually die on that thing, can I have all your game consoles?”

“Uh…Jeremy?” The teen rolled his eyes approached Sebastian who was sitting on a sleek black and yellow motorcycle.

“Hi, Sebastian,” he greeted, as Michael continued to list other things he wanted when Jeremy eventually met his untimely demise. “So you drive a motorcycle.?”

“Is this bad? Are you okay riding on it?”

“I’ve never been on one before, but I’m willing to try. You won’t throw me off or do anything crazy, right? I think it would put my friend's mind at ease?” He pointed at Michael who was _still_ mouthing off a list of Jeremy’s belongings. Seriously, how much did this guy want?

“Which friend is that?”

“The best friend!” Michael shot, giving up on the list. He approached Sebastian, ignoring him at first to study the bike. He paced around it, scanning over every detail like a work of art in a museum, nodding to himself until he’d taken a full lap around the bike. “Nope, my car is still cooler.”

“You wish.”

“This must be Michael,” Sebastian realized.

“That I am, and you must be this mystery friend I only just heard about.”

“Well we only met two days ago, so it’s not surprising you haven’t heard of me,” the older teen admitted.

“Two days—Jeremy!” Jeremy found Michael’s arm around his neck once more as he was pulled close so they could have a secret meeting. “Two days Jer? You trust him after two days? You know nothing about him, what if he’s some creepy zombie creating scientist and he plans on experimenting on you?”

“You really think that?”

“Well, no, but—“

“Look, I like him,” his friend cocked a brow, “Not like that! He’s friendly and doesn’t hover over me like the others, which is nice and kind of refreshing. I feel like a can breathe freely when I’m around him. Hanging out with him is kind of like hanging out with you. I mean, it’s less satisfying than hanging out with you, but—“

“Just text me if anything gets weird. I totally trust you to take care of yourself, but I’ll be in hot water with Christine if something happens to you and she finds out I knew about it.”

“Ah, so she’s moved on to using you to get to me.”

“I only help when I think it’s necessary. Unlike them, I actually know when we need to start worrying about you.”

“Perhaps you could clue them in for me.” Behind them, Sebastian cleared his throat. Both boys jumped, turning to face him with somewhat sheepish grins.

“My name’s Sebastian.”

“Mine’s Michael. I am trusting you with my best friend. We have an important game date Friday, so make sure he lives long enough to get there!”

“You sound like a dad,” Jeremy groaned.

“Well you’re dad’s not going to lecture him, so the job falls to me,” he returned his attention to Sebastian. “Anything happens to him, and I come after you.”

“I can see why you two are such great friends,” Sebastian laughed, “and I will be careful. Maybe this will help put your mind at ease?” he pulled out his wallet and plucked a rectangular card from the inside. “This is my business card. It’s got my number on it, and the address of the tech shop I own down on Main Street.” Michael accepted the paper, took a picture of it with his phone, then shoving it in his vest pocket.

“I appreciate it, man. Enjoy hanging out with the coolest dude on the face of the earth.” He gave them both a farewell wave before strolling off towards his own car. Jeremy stood there watching him go, shifting his gaze back to the motorcycle after his best friend had disappeared behind someone else’s car.

“You know, somehow I’m not even surprised. You basically ooze cool, so why wouldn’t you ride something that oozes that image as well?”

“Ooze cool?” Sebastian laughed, “Never heard it phrased like that, but—“

“Well, it’s true! You’re one of those people who would show up at a new school and everyone would flock to him. You’d be popular instantly.”

“If i'm popular, what does that make you?”

“Awkward, socially inept. Persistent? It’s a long list, Sebastian, and we could be standing her till final bell if I continued to list them out.

“Can you sum it up?”

“In one word? Unpopular.”

“Good enough for me.” He tossed Jeremy a spare Helmet. It was black, identical to Sebastian’s own. “Safety first. I don’t think I want to be on Michael’s bad side. He might only be able to hack radio waves, but something tells me he would be able to end my existence if I ever got you hurt.”

“Nah, he’s harmless.” Jeremy tugged the helmet on, standing awkwardly unsure what to do now.

“You going to get on?”

“Uh--yeah.” He wasn’t sure why this was so awkward…oh, wait. Yes, he did! It was awkward because awkward was Jeremy’s constant state of being. “So do I just…hold onto your waist?” he asked quietly when he was situated on the seat behind his driver.

“Unless you want to go flying off the back,” Sebastian looked back at him. “Do you want to be rocketed off the back, Jeremy?”

“No.”

“Then wrap your arms around my waist and hold on tight. And if you're embarrassed, just remember the helmets and visors are dark so one can see your face. And you don’t have a real muscular frame so if anyone is paying attention to us as we speed by you’ll probably be registered as a girl.”

“Are you trying to insult me?”

“Not intentionally.” Jeremy took a deep breath and settled into his seat.

“Alright, I’m ready.” His bag was strapped tight to his back and his arms were wrapped even tighter around Sebastian. He was pressed against his back, and even though they hadn’t moved, Jeremy was holding on for dear life. He could feel Sebastian laughing, which caused him to scowl. “Stop it!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s just—“

“If you say funny—“

“Amusing.”

“Same thing.”

“I’m taking off now.” The bike moved slowly at first. They wove through the parking lot carefully, but as soon as they hit the road the bike roared to life. At least, Jeremy assumed it was the bike roaring. He was vaguely aware of a panicked shriek flying out of his mouth as the bike went from zero to fifty, and he wasn’t sure if the shaking he felt was from Sebastian laughing at him or the bikes motor. After the initial spike of adrenaline and the sense of apparent doom died down, Jeremy actually enjoy the ride. It was exhilarating, and he found himself laughing with a child-like giddiness as Sebastian raced around the city. He was certain the older boy had taken a longer route too, which Jeremy had no complaints about and he was almost upset when they finally reached Sebastian’s tech store, that is, until he got off the bike and face-planted into the sidewalk.

“Don’t you dare laugh!” Jeremy shot slowly rising to his feet. He wasn’t prepared for how badly his legs would be shaking when he got off, but by the way Sebastian was reacting, Jeremy assumed the other had expected this reaction.

“I’m not laughing.”

“You are.”

“No, this is—uh—sneezing!” He half-a_ _ __ a fake sneeze then helped Jeremy hobble into the store.

“A little warning would have been nice.”

“Hey, Jeremy. Heads up. Sometimes people face-plant after riding a motorcycle for the first time because they’re body was so tense for the entire ride and the muscles give out momentarily when they finally relax.” Jeremy scowled, but Sebastian continued laughing—sorry—“sneezing.”

The tech store was a simple looking place. White and blue walls with all sorts of merch sitting on tables and resting on shelves. The sign out front advertised it primarily as a repair shop, which was no surprise considering Sebastian’s ability.

“Do you get a lot of business here?”

“There’s always a market for technological assistance, so yes. I get a fair amount of business, but you didn’t come here to talk about my store's popularity did you?”

“No.” Sebastian found a place behind the main counter, and Jeremy joined him, pulling out a notebook from his backpack. Inside one of the leaf pockets were an assortment of printed pictures. Sebastian took one look at them and laughed.

“You printed them out?”

“Why do you think I asked you to email them to me last night?”

“I just thought you wanted to see them on a larger screen. I didn’t think you would print them out.”

“It’s not like I had a choice. This isn’t exactly something I would want anyone to know I have, so I had to erase all evidence of it from my phone and email. If they were still on my phone when I went to school, Jenna probably would have found them.”

“Who’s Jenna?”

“She’s gossip queen of Middle Borough. She knows everything about everything. She also has a quirk that lets her gain access to anything with an electronic pulse.”

“So she’s a hacker?”

“I guess. Either way, no secret is safe from her unless it’s physical, hence the printed out photos.”

“She would have snooped through your phone?”

“I’m sure she does it regularly. We’re not the closest of friends, but she still cares. She is, however, close friends with Brooke and Chloe and those two would want to know if anything weird is going on in my life. Since I don’t exactly tell them about my social life anymore, they have to use underhanded methods.” Jeremy had made plans to meet a friend he’d been talking to online for over a year a couple months back. He’d been talking about it all week and when the day finally came, he discovered that he had multiple shadows watching his every movement. From then on he decided to keep plans to himself in hope of avoiding unwanted company. It had mixed results.

“Wow, talk about a breach of privacy.”

“You get used to it. Most people in the school have countermeasures to hide from Jenna’s all-seeing eye.”

“And yours is to print things out?”

“Yes. Now, are you going to explain these pictures or what?”

“I mean, they seem self-explanatory.”

“Did you photoshop them?”

“Why would I do that?” he huffed, looking offended Jeremy would even consider it, but there was no reason for him to lie about it. And as much as Jeremy hope he was, part of him knew Sebastian was telling the truth. He’d always had a suspicion in the back of his head about Christine and the others, but he’d always ignored it because—well there was no reason for it to be true, or so he thought.

“Look, I showed up at the school yesterday, like I said I would, and saw you walk into the school with the short blonde girl—“

“Christine—“

“—And something felt off so I followed. You texted me that they’d all shown up and you were going to practice so I thought I’d go sneak a peek, but when I got there it was just you and Christine on the stage. I knew you wouldn’t believe me, so I took a video and some pictures. I thought you would want to know.”

“I just—it doesn’t make sense.” The photos were exactly as Sebastian said. They showed Jeremy and Christine on the stage, but they were the only ones there. The problem is that Jeremy distinctively remembers everyone from the main cast being there. They’d all been present, reading their lines and acting out their parts, but when he’d looked at the video, he doubted it all. When he watched the video he saw Christine and himself on the stage, and while he read his parts, Christine read out all the others.

“What did you say your friend's ability was?”

“Illusions, but—I just—she can’t make illusions like this. I’ve seen her try before, they’re nothing this…convincing.”

“People keep secrets, Jeremy, especially about their own powers.”

“But why couldn’t you see the others. Even if she is able to make an illusion like what I saw yesterday, why couldn’t you see it? Typically when she uses her ability everyone can see it regardless of if they were present when she first activated the ability.”

“Two words, Jeremy. Eye contact. I’ve met my fair share of people in this profession and they all have their own strange stories to tell. From what I’ve learned, people who have an ability capable of influencing people or influencing their perspective have two methods of execution. Some have a see all, where their ability affects everyone in the vicinity. There’s also a more personalized method. If the user is trying to focus on one person, then it will only effect that person. With illusions as specific as what you saw, direct eye contact is typically required to maintain the trick for long periods of time.”

“Eye contact which we made for an extended period of time before walking into the school.” Jeremy stretched out over the counter and groaned. “What the F_ _ _!” This raised so many more questions and he felt like he hadn’t gotten any answers. “How long has she been doing this to me? Why would she do this to me?”

“Everyone has secrets, Jeremy. People go to great lengths to keep them.”

“Yeah, but why? What kind of secret would make Christine feel like she needs to trick me?”

“I don’t know her, so your guess is as good as mine.” Jeremy didn’t move from his position on the counter for a few minutes. He was trying to organize his thoughts but had no luck. There was too much going on and it was making him dizzy.

“Ahhhhh. I don’t want to think about this anymore!”

“Is that so? Well, if you need a distraction, how about you cash in that self-defense lesson you weaseled out of yesterday?”

“Do I get to hit things?”

“Yes.”

“Then count me in.” Sebastian smiled, walking to the store's entrance and locking it. Jeremy wasn’t sure why, he figured they had to go somewhere else for this unless he intended to spar in the middle of the shop.

“Jeremy, can I trust you?” Well, that was an odd question. “It’s a very simple question that requires a simple answer, but I hope you will think carefully about the implication before responding,” he sang in that sweet voice Jeremy couldn’t get out of his head. “Can I trust you?”

“Yes.” He wanted Sebastian to be able to trust him. He didn’t know what exactly that implied down the road, but Jeremy wanted Sebastian’s trust and in this moment was willing to do whatever in order to keep it.

“Swear it.”

“Sebastian, I swear on the lifespan of my Nintendo64, which one of my most prized classic console systems, that you can trust me.”

“Good. You can trust me in return, Jeremy. I only want what’s best for you.” The teen found no fault in his friend's words and nodded in response as Sebastian waltz backed over towards him. He grabbed Jeremy and spin him around like in a ballroom dance, and jokingly dipped him tango style. There was child-like grin plastered on his face the entire time and Jeremy laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. He found himself staring at Sebastian’s eyes again because, _ _ _m they were so blue. “You’re superhero fanatic aren’t you?” Sebastian asked holding their position.

“M-maybe.” He pulled Jeremy back to his feet and laughed. He wished Sebastian would laugh more. He loved the sound—like the tune of his favorite song. “Why do you ask?”

“I just assumed you were. I mean, you come off as a bit of a nerd.”

“N-n-nerd? I thought I came off as more of a geek.”

“Regardless of which you think you are, I want to show you something you are going to love.” He pulled Jeremy into the back room and up to a large locker. Jackets of all shapes, colors, and sizes occupied the space, but Sebastian pushed them aside and stepped inside. The locker was much bigger on the inside. A scanner lit up on the wall where Sebastian pressed his hand, and the back of the locker opened like sliding doors.

“I feel like I’m walking into Narnia,” Jeremy mumbled as he was lead onto the elevator.

“It’s cool, though, right?” The lift starting moving, and after a minute or so it opened into a large underground cavern. Cavern wasn’t a great word. Jeremy thought of cavern and he pictured a large open space in a damp, dark cave. This was nothing like what he pictured. It was incredibly spacious, but it had a more homey vibe to it.

“Dude! This is like a secret HQ! did you make this place?”

“Pfft, as if. I bought the building off a superhero a while ago when he had to relocate to New York because of the increase in villain attacks. He doubled as a dry cleaner, which is why there are so many coats in back room. I did upgrade the place though.”

“You live here, don’t you?” Jeremy realized, looking around

“Oh, absolutely. This place is big enough to house one of those reality show family’s with twenty kids. Why would I bother paying for a separate house when I can just live down here. It’s got everything I need to survive, and my job is right upstairs.”

“This is _so cool!_ ” Jeremy squealed, his inner fanboy going into overdrive. He wanted more than anything to go explore every inch of this place, but he figured he’d have time for that later.

“I knew you’d like it. Anyway, I have workout clothes you can borrow for today’s session. If these lessons become a regular thing, then you can keep your own clothes here as well since it would be easier. And there’s plenty of room so it wouldn’t be a problem. Now, if you’ll follow me, I’ll show you the space we’ll be working in.” Jeremy took one more look around and trailed after Sebastian. Any thoughts from before, about Christine and the other’s, were being buried in the back of his mind as he focused on what was around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of you are awesome and thanks for reading. I did my best to edit this chapter, I'm not sure how great it is. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed and I appreciate all the feedback y'all have given me!
> 
>  


	4. Chapter 4

“Terrible. Absolutely terrible. I’ve literally never seen anything worse in my life.” Jeremy laid sprawled out on the floor completely out of breath. Sebastian stood over him, staring down looking completely appalled.

“Golly, gee. You’d make a great motivational coach, Sebastian.”

“And you might as well be a punching bag in a fight. I’ve never seen someone so bad at exercise.”

“I apologize, O great and mighty coach. It would seem the athletic gene failed to come to the pool around my conception.”

“You clearly have muscle.”

“You have Jake to thank for that. He’s been dragging my lazy a_ _ to the gym to lift weight multiple times a week. Probably on Christine’s request. You know for a girl who cares so much about my well-being I fail to see why she won’t date me.”

“You love her?”

“I do—did—I dunno. I was rejected when I asked asked her out. She said maybe sometime in the future.”

“Yeah…you got friend zoned.”

“That’s what Michael said.” Jeremy’s lungs finally began to get a clue and calmed down. His chest didn’t hurt as much, and he’s breathing wasn’t as fast. His body hurt everywhere, though. Sebastian believed reacting to a real fight was the best way to learn so he taught Jeremy a few basics and then they started sparring. “I’m going to have bruises in the morning.”

“You already have bruises,” Sebastian informed nudging his upper arm with his foot. Sure enough, there was slight discoloration from a slowly forming bruise.

“Looks like I’m wearing longs sleeves tomorrow!” Lord only knows what the others would do if they saw the bruises. They were probably already going to interrogate him over why he had ditched seventh period as well as play rehearsals. They’re going to wonder why he wasn’t answering his phone (because Sebastian told him to turn it off and remove the battery so that no one could track it). Of course, if Jeremy didn’t answer his phone, Michael was called, but Michael wouldn’t tell them anything either.

“Ready for another round?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Not really.”

Jeremy groaned. “Are you mad about something? Are you using me to vent? I feel like I’m being beaten up more than I am defending myself.”

“I’m not beating you up, you just have a learning curve slower than a snail.”

“Apparently I run a 400 slower than a snail too.”

“Did you finish?”

“No.”

“The snail would have finished.”

“Shut up.” Sebastian laughed and offered a hand to pull him to his feet.

“Let’s do one more round, then we can go get some food. We’ve been at this for a few hours.”

“And apparently I’m terrible.”

“You’ll learn.”

“Just admit it! I’m hopeless!” Sebastian passed him a water bottle and pulled over a chair. The gym they were training in is was very well built. The floor was padded, perfect for sparring, and there were all sorts of other equipment around. According to Sebastian, the hero who’d occupied this space before had left most of his gear since moving it all would have been too much of a hassle.

“Nobody is hopeless, but you might need a little extra help.”

“Are you that little help I need?” Jeremy groaned internally as soon as the words left his mouth. _I sound like I’m flirting._ It wasn’t his intent, that’s for sure, and Sebastian didn’t react like he was being flirted at. Maybe Jeremy was safe?

“I have something that might help, actually. It’s been tested and approved for use. In fact, it’s used by the military for training, but it’s not on the global market.”

“That doesn’t’ sound fishy.”

“It’s not on the market because I didn’t want it to be. I was hired to create a program that would help soldiers train more efficiently.”

“How old are you again?”

“Nineteen”

“Mkay. And when were you commissioned by the army?”

“when I was sixteen.”

“So, when you were around my age you were building technology for the military? Sounds realistic.”

“Jeremy— “

“So, what exactly is this program of yours?” He asked. This all sounded incredibly suspicious and Jeremy was already certain he wanted nothing to do with it, but he would still hear Sebastian out.

“It’s a quantum micro super computer implant you take via ingestion,” he explained, holding out his phone. He pressed a few buttons on the screen before a light was projected from the camera and a holographic image of a small pill formed in the air.

“Dude! Your phone can create holographic projections? That’s awesome! That’s some next level _h_ _!”

“Ah, well I upgrade most of my electronics for personal use. This is one of them. As far as I’m concerned, my phone is the only one capable of doing this. I suppose it’s plausible there’s another technopathic brainiac who upgraded his phone similarly, but if they did they kept their design to themselves like I did. They probably think they can make a fortune if they wait and patent the design, but that’s irrelevant to the topic at hand. This is the quantum computer chip.” It looked like a regular capsule pill, nothing special or noteworthy about it. Sebastian messed with the image and the capsule faded away to reveal a high-tech piece of technology.

“You swallow that and it does what?” Jeremy asked because he couldn’t figure out how something like that could do anything other than pass through the digestive tract.

“You swallow it and it travels through your blood stream until it implants itself in your brain stem. From their not only can it help regulate and monitor vitals, but it can keep track of physical condition, alerting monitors if there are any serious medical or physical abnormalities that need to be addressed. It also helps you learn faster. It subconsciously absorbs all the stimulus you see, smell, feel, or hear and records it even if you don’t recall it. It also trains you in your sleep. You dream about whatever it is your trying to learn which gives you extra practice. It can’t think for you, so everything you do is still of your own power, but it permits you to learn more efficiently and faster.”

“Sounds unnatural.”

“It’s like being on a stimulant forever,” he explained. “It heightens your senses, which in turn improves reflexes.”

“And you want me to take this pill?”

“I’m not going to make you do anything, Jeremy, I’m simply offering up a suggestion. Like I said early, I’m only doing what I think is best for you. You want to protect yourself so your friends will back off a bit, but you clearly need all the help you can get. The option is one-hundred percent yours to accept or deny.” Jeremy was impressed, that’s for sure. He didn’t think anything like what Sebastian created was possible.

“Did you name it after yourself?”

“What?”

“Yeah! Don’t you name inventions after yourself? Is this called the Squip?”

“No one would take it seriously if I called it that.”

“It’s not being sold on the public market, right? So no one would ever know.”

“This is probably one of the most advanced pieces of technology in existence right now. I’m not calling it a Squip. Makes it sound like a street drug and it’s a stupid name.”

“It's your name.”

“It’s my initials.”

“Still part of your name.” Sebastian rolled his eyes clearly frustrated, but Jeremy just laughed. For someone who always seemed so cool and collected he enjoyed getting a rise out of him, no matter how small it was. “So, we gonna get this last round over with or is this exercise supposed to me imagining all the pain you’d inflict on me if we did get up and start a new round?”

“No, we’re still going to spar. And on the bright side, at least your pain tolerance will increase after all of this.”

“Pffft.” Jeremy couldn’t help but laugh because “I live in a world where everyone but me has an ability. I get injured on a regular basis. My pain tolerance is already through the roof. If it wasn’t I wouldn’t have lasted this long.”

“Fair enough.” Sebastian put his phone aside and joined Jeremy on the sparring mat (which was to say any open space in the room). “I’ll start when you say you’re ready.” Jeremy nodded, jumping around to loosen up. The short break had let his body cool off and it had become stiff due to all the abuse it had been suffering through. Sebastian seriously had no mercy, but Jeremy wouldn’t complain. He’s asked him for the help, he was ready to do whatever was needed. Besides, if he did get in a fight, his opponent wouldn’t pull punches.

“Alright, let’s go.” He’s managed to muster up some ounce of confidence and was determined to at least land a solid blow on his opponent. Sebastian came at him first, and he threw up the block he’d been taught how to do. It worked for the first hit, but as soon as his opponent changed trajectory, the protection fell through. Jeremy just couldn’t react fast enough or read Sebastian’s movements like the other could do with him.

Instead of trying to block, Jeremy dodged. He ducked under the approaching arm and jabbed at Sebastian as he passed. The older teen twisted his body out of reach and Jeremy swung on empty air.

“That was a nice counter, Jeremy.” His teacher praised, as he reset his stance. “Now attack.” Jeremy nodded and tried to attack the way Sebastian did. He tried to be fierce and powerful and confident, but his attacks didn’t have much speed. They were predictable and lacked in forcefulness, which was the opposite of what he’d been receiving from Sebastian. His attack was blocked again, and while moving in to strike a thought occurred to him. He charged forward, ready to swing, but it never came. Instead, he crouched down and swept his leg out and around him. It hurt like hell when he made contact with Sebastian’s leg, but the momentum of the movement allowed Jeremy to trip his opponent and he watched satisfied as Sebastian slammed against the floor for the first time all afternoon.

Surprisingly, Sebastian laughed, quickly rising back to his feet. “And you said you couldn’t learn.”

“I said I was slow.”

“You also said it was hopeless.” Sebastian ran forward, clearly not ready to secede the match. Jeremy was ready…or he thought he was. He blocked a hit and tried to counter with a punch of his own, but Sebastian latched onto his outstretched arm and, after a small adjustment, used Jeremy’s momentum to flip him over onto the mat.

The teen hit the floor with an OUMPH and stayed down staring at all the little stars dancing across his vision. He wheezed in a few breaths, the impact having knocked all the air from his body, and he could already feel a bubble of pain sprouting in his lower back.

“I think I dislocated a rib.”

“S_ _ _, what? I didn’t mean to throw you that hard.”

“I mean it’s not like this is the first time,” Jeremy wheezed sitting up slowly. “I mean, it usually pops back into place. If not, I can go see a chiropractor and get it fixed. I know it moved though. Last time this happened all the muscles around it tightened up and it got really hard to breathe and—” Jeremy felt Sebastian’s fingertips press against his back. “Um…”

“Is this where it hurts?”

“Y—yes.” He was embarrassed how his voice squeaked.

“Alright, don’t move,” Sebastian ordered, and Jeremy found himself obeying. “Also, this might sting a little.” Before he could ask for clarification, a shock rushed through his muscles. It felt like hundreds of bees were assaulting his body simultaneously, and it left him struggling to inhale oxygen. It left him struggling to do anything, but thankfully it only lasted a few moments. There was still lingering pain, but it was less than before.

“Sebastian, what the _U_ _ was that?

“How’s your breathing?”

“What?”

“And is it easier to move your back?” Jeremy paused to breathe and realizing the pain that had accompanied breathing from before was no longer there. After Sebastian’s last flip, moving any part of his chest or lower back was difficult, but now he was fine.

“How did—what?”

“I’m a technopath, Jeremy.”

“Yeah, that explains nothing. I’m not a machine.”

“No, but I control technology with electricity.” He pressed his hands together separating them slowly. As they moved apart small tendrils of blue electricity sparked between his palms. “It’s like small-scale lightning manipulation. I can generate electricity, and mine is safe to use on people. I learned I could use it to loosen muscles a few years ago when I was stressing over a deadline. I got really tight and everything hurt and in my sleep deprived state I figured I would do something stupid and used electric currents on my shoulder and shockingly it helped.”

“So, it’s like a lightning massage.” Jeremy realized.

“I mean—I guess.”

“Dude, that’s so cool!” His inner fanboy was coming out again. It always showed up when he could watch his favorite heroes in action, but it also showed up when he was in the presence of a super cool ability. He’d deny it, but he fanboyed a lot.

“How about we go get food?” Sebastian asked, “I’ll buy.”

“All you have to say is ‘free food’ and I’m there.” Sebastian laughed and pulled Jeremy to his feet. He suggested they shower and change first since they were both rather sweaty from their workout. Jeremy agreed, and let Sebastian show him to an area he could get ready. Twenty minutes later, they were both riding up the elevator to the shop, smelling fresh and ready for some food.

It wasn’t until they reached the front of the shop that they heard all the commotion outside.

“Another villain attack?” Jeremy realized finally turning his phone on. There were twenty missed calls, half were from Christine, a few from Jenna, and another few from Rich or Brooke. The number of unread texts was greater than the missed calls, but the only message her cared to look for was Jenna’s.

 

_“Hey, Jer. So, there wasn’t an attack in New York, but some weirdo with these long cyborg like legs is attacking the city. It’s up on my blog, but since you weren’t at school last period, you didn’t hear the announcement. Stay Safe.”_

 

“You know, I’m not even surprised anymore,” Jeremy mumbled. The attacks had been growing more frequent as of late, and he couldn’t figure out why. No one could figure out why.

“Another attack?” Sebastian stepped out the door to look down Main Street. There wasn’t any serious damage on the road, which meant the fight was happening somewhere else, but the roads were still emptier than usual. The fight must still be close. “You still want to go out and get food?”

“Yes! Dude, I’m starving! Zombies could be prowling the streets and I would still be making my way down to Zee’s Diner for a burger.”

“Well if you insist.” He held the door open as Jeremy led the way down the street. Growing up, Jeremy had learned to be wary of villain attacks, but he’d reached a point where he stopped letting them hinder his day. That’s how most people were now, but they also weren’t stupid. They knew when they should or shouldn’t go out, and right now Jeremy was certain he was in the clear.

He could hear the sounds of battle in the distance. It was closer to Main Street than usual. He could tell by the volume. It was like counting after a lightning strike, except here he could gauge the distance based on how loud the fight was from his location. If he had to guess it was only a few blocks over, about five or ten miles give or take. He wondered what this villain was like. First, it had been spiders, now it was a guy with robotic legs? Were they normal human looking legs or were they like, daddy-long-legs legs? What was with villains and spiders?

If Jeremy wasn’t with Sebastian he probably would have run over to take a closer look. Sure, Christine would have a heart attack, but he was curious. He also wanted to see Mind Warp in action again. It had been a while, and watching her work was always mesmerizing and cool. He’d never talked to her, and he probably never would, but he was somehow okay with that. Sure he had a massive crush on the female hero, but it would never proceed past him pinning for her. Besides, dating a superhero would probably be complicated. You wouldn’t see them as much and being their significant other would probably put your life at risk on a regular basis.

“Oh— “A thought popped to mind, but before he could focus on it, he felt himself being shoved to the ground. Sebastian was yelling over him, and he felt all the hair on his body stand on edge. He’d slapped his forehead on the pavement on the way down and felt a new wave of dizziness spread through him.

“Jeremy! Jeremy, look at me!” He did as asked, looking up to see Sebastian watching him with those glowing blue eyes he’d gotten lost in before. He looked worried. “Are you okay?”

“O—kay?” He’d been shoved to the ground and hit his head. He could be better, but he said nothing as he focused more on Sebastian. One of his arms was wrapped around him protectively and the other was held out towards the street. Jeremy thought it was strange until he looked past Sebastian and noticed the car. Well, he assumed it was a car. It was just bits and pieces hovering in the air. It looked like that time he’d taken apart his phone.

“Jeremy, are you hurt anywhere?”

“I hit my head, but I think I’ll be fine.” He saw Sebastian release a deep breath.

“Well, it could be worse.” He dropped his hand, and the air was assaulted by the sound of heavy metal hitting the ground.

“What happened?” The dizziness was starting to fade as Sebastian helped him back to his feet. Jeremy rubbed the spot where he’d hit his head gently. _Another bruise to add to the collection, but probably not a concussion._ He’d had one of those too. He knew the signs.

“A car came flying through the sky. It was about to hit you but— “

“You saved me?” Ha! If the car had hit him he would be dead. Forget giving Christine a Heart Attack, this would have destroyed her. Forget Christine. If Jeremy had died, it would have destroyed Michael. “You saved me,” he repeated. “Sebastian, you just saved my life. Thank you so much!” He would have given the older teen a hug or something, but Sebastian was already leading him down the road towards the diner.

“You should have been able to hear the car coming,” Sebastian mumbled. “No, you would have if you had the squip, but your reflexes suck as is. Even if you could have heard it, I doubt you would have been able to react fast enough. Then again, the squip would help with reflexes too.” Jeremy realized Sebastian was talking to himself but he couldn’t help but smile.

“You called it a squip.”

“Shut up.”

“Didn’t you say it was stupid?”

“Are you sure you don’t want it? If anything, it would put my mind at ease.”

“Dude, I’m okay. Seriously. I’ve been staring down death since forever. We’re basically friends.”

“That’s not something you brag about, Jeremy.” The teen just laughed while Sebastian pulled him into the diner. He dropped Jeremy off at a table near the back, told him not to move, then went to order their food from the front counter. Jeremy was still laughing as he let his head rest against the table. He stopped when Sebastian was out of hearing range, and let what just happen finally sink in.

 _I almost died._  This wasn’t the first time he’d brushed shoulders with death, but it had never left him so shaken. If he hadn’t met Sebastian he would be dead right now. He owed Sebastian his life. He started laughing again, but the tremble in his voice was clear. “Oh, god I almost died.” He wished he could laugh off the unease he felt like he’d done before, but this was different. Why was this different? His throat grew tight and he could feel the pressure building up behind eyes. He couldn’t tell if he was going to cry or have a panic attack, but he knew he didn’t want to do either. Not in public.

He felt a hand on his head, ruffling his hair gently, and a body press itself beside him in the booth. “It’s okay, Jeremy. You’re safe now.” He understood that, but he couldn’t get his nerves to calm. “Just listen to my voice for a little while okay? Take a few deep breaths.” It took a few seconds, but Jeremy managed to take a long, deep breath; then another, and another. “Breathe in, hold it for a few seconds, then breathe out and let your body relax. What you’re feeling is normal. It was traumatic, but you’re still here, you’re still breathing, and as long as I’m around I won’t let anything bad happen.” The terror that had seized control of Jeremy’s body slowly subsided. “You can trust me.” Jeremy lifted his head from the table and glanced over to the older teen.

“Yeah, I know. Thanks for—well, for everything.” Jeremy felt exhausted. He rested back against the booth and yawned. The combination of the workout and a near-death experience left him half asleep, and emotionally numb. He found himself leaning against Sebastian as he nodded off. The other didn’t complain and encouraged Jeremy to take a short nap, promising he’d wake him up when the food arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up. I'm taking on online class at my Uni this summer, and we're getting into the full swing of things. I think I have a paper due next week or something. Anyway, if the updates get spread out it's likely because of that. If they get to spread out just remind me and I'll give an update on where I am and when I think the next chapter will come out. 
> 
> As always, thank's for reading.


	5. Chapter 5

“What is this?” Michael asked shoving his phone in Jeremy’s face. There was a picture on the screen that he instantly recognized and he snatched the phone from his friend with lightning speed.

  
“Why do you have this?” Jeremy asked, panicking. He looked around the hall to make sure the others weren’t around, but he’d gotten to school early for play rehearsal and the halls were still mostly empty.

  
“I’m not Jenna, but I do have other friends around town. Someone sent this to me yesterday. Are you okay?” The image was of him and Sebastian in the back booth at Zee’s after he’d passed out on the older teen's shoulder. “This is your I-almost-got-killed-and-somehow-survived exhaustion. What happened?”

  
“I almost became road kill.” He didn’t want to think about yesterday. The shock had passed, but it wasn’t a pleasant memory. “I guess it would have been sidewalk kill. Basically, a car flew out of the sky and almost took my life, but Sebastian saved me.”

  
“So you’re okay?”

  
“Yeah, I am. No one else has seen this right?”

"Of course not, Jer." Michael threw his arm around Jeremy’s shoulder but backed off as soon as his buddy flinched.  
“You sure you’re okay? Also isn’t it little hot for long sleeves.”

  
“I’m wearing a sweater and you are wearing a hoodie.”

“You’re also wearing make-up.” He noted tapping his forehead in the same place where Jeremy had hit his head the day before.

  
“I’m a bit bruised. Sebastian and I were fighting.”

  
“Excuse me? Do I have to beat someone up?”

  
“Can you beat someone up?”

  
“Jeremy, I can do anything to anyone if they hurt you.” Jeremy knew that was a fact. Michael might as well been the leader of the Heere protection force, which at the time of its creation, consisted only of Michael. Now it had six new members, but they weren’t like Michael. Michael gave him space and let him live his life, but would always have Jeremy's back when he was needed.

  
“No, don’t beat up Sebastian. He’s not bad. We get along surprisingly well if I’m to be honest. And I’m bruised because he was teaching me self-defense and I suck at it. To prove his point, Jeremy rolled up his sleeves to his elbows and showed off the vivid dark spots that littered his skin. “I’m also incredibly sore.”

  
“You’re learning self-defense? I thought your mom said no?”

  
“What my mom doesn’t know won’t hurt her.” He shrugged and elbowed his buddy, “but it will hurt me. She saw the bruises when I got home last night. Sebastian had to bring me back because he didn’t trust me to get home alone last night, and he more or less explained what happened and that the bruises were from me being pushed to the ground to avoid the car. My mom invited Sebastian over for dinner as thanks for saving my life.”

  
“Did he accept?”

  
“He declined. Besides, my mom’s not a good cook.” They both thought back to the last meal Mrs. Heere had made and shivered. It’s not like it was inedible, but it tasted like cardboard.

  
“Now, if your dad were the one cooking that would be a different story.” Mr. Heere was essentially a stay at home dad. He still worked, and only had to go into the office once a week, but since he spent so much time at home, he spent time cooking. Meanwhile, his wife worked in an office every day, and she didn’t have as much time to practice.

  
“Eh, he’s a pretty busy guy I guess.”

  
“He runs a tech store, he can’t be that busy.”

  
“I’m sure there’s more to the story.”

  
“Either way, I should call and thank him for his help.” Michael decided, fishing the older teens business card from his wallet. “I’m gonna head to class, but I’ll see you tonight for game night.”

  
“Yeah definitely. I’m going to hit up the store after rehearsal today, so call and let me know when you’re on route to my place.”

  
“Can do, Jer.” He waved and strolled off, while Jeremy hurried in the opposite direction. It had been a while since they last had a game night. Junior year was proving to be much more difficult than either had imaged so between schoolwork and Michael’s job they hadn’t had much time to do anything other than study. And with SAT’s around the corner they were swamped. He was looking forward to a night where he could just goof off with his best buddy.

  
His anticipation of their game night is what got him through most of the day. Michael said he would bring over his system, and his games and Jeremy had his own, so when combined together it meant neither of them were going sleep at all that weekend.

  
Rehearsal was okay. Everyone showed up for once. Christine kept questioning him about why he wasn’t at practice the day before and why he wouldn’t pick up his phone, but he just ignored her, switching topics as soon as she tried to interrogate him. He gave the others the same attitude and generally kept them at a distance. He wasn’t sure what he thought or felt about what Sebastian had shown him the day before. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. He’d known most of the squad his entire life. And despite have been friends for such a short time, Jeremy was under the impression he could trust them, but if what Sebastian showed him is true then he was being lied to. No, they were lying to him, Jeremy was certain of that fact, but he wasn’t sure why they thought they needed to.

  
_To protect me probably. That’s what they’re always so focused on, isn’t it?_ But what would they need to protect him from? That’s what he couldn’t figure out. They were all high schoolers, weren’t they? There was no danger to their lives unless they somehow got stuck in the crossfire of a fight. That seemed to happen to Jeremy a lot, but still—

  
“Hey, Jeremy!” Jake ran up to him after rehearsal finished, and Jeremy knew what he was going to ask. “I was planning on hitting the gym in an hour or so, why don’t you come with me?” Nothing appealed to Jeremy less than going to the gym with Jake to lift. If he hadn’t gotten his a_ _ handed to him the day before, he might be more open to the idea, but Sebastian hadn’t pulled any punches and he was already sore enough. Besides he still had to get stuff for tonight. It really had been far too long since he and Michael had had a game night date, and he didn’t want anything leaving him too exhausted to participate.

  
“I’m gonna have to give you a rain check on lifting if you don’t mind. I have plans today and I need to prepare. I could; however, use a lift to the grocery store. You pass it on the way to the gym, right?”

  
“Yeah.” Jake started walking towards the exit and Jeremy trailed behind him. He wasn’t sure how he would get back home after shopping. It was a shorter trek home from the store than it would be from the school, but it was still a solid half mile to a mile, depending if he wanted to cut through the woods behind his neighborhood (which he didn’t) or walk to the front of the neighborhood via the sidewalk.

  
“So why are you going to the store?” Jake asked getting in his old pick-up truck. Jeremy called it old, but it was a model from about five years back so it was still pretty recent. It was a gift from his uncle since his parents are a sorry excuse for guardians.

  
“Michael and I are supposed to have a date night tonight.” Jake gave him that look, a suggestive side glance he received from most people when he said he was hanging out alone with Michael. “Not like that. He’s just coming over to play video games.”

  
“Sure, sure.” Jeremy rolled his eyes but slid into the passenger seat of the truck. He and Jake were friends, but they didn’t talk much when on their own. They usually hung out in a group, and even when they worked out, rich usually came along. It wasn’t a problem since they were comfortable with each other’s silence. And when they did decide to talk it was usually a topic they both were interested in. Still, there was something off about their silence today, and Jeremy didn’t like it.

  
“So,” Jake began as he pulled out of the school lot onto the road. “How have you been?”

  
“Fine,” Jeremy began, “I’d be better if you all actually showed up to practice without having to be threatened, but I can’t always get what I want.”  
“Sorry about that.”

  
“At least you’re showing up now.”

  
“But you’re not. You weren’t at practice yesterday afternoon. We were all worried.” He’s expected this to happen. Since he’d dodged all of Christine’s questions she’d asked Jake to try.

  
“I also told Mr. Reyes I would be absent. I had a doctor’s appointment.”

  
“You’re sick?”

  
“I have anxiety.” He explained. It had been really bad a few years ago, but he’d been taking medication and seeing someone and it wasn’t as severe as it had been in years past. “I needed a refill, and since I recently changed my dose the office wanted to do a follow-up appointment.” He wasn’t technically lying. He had had an appointment to just that, but it hadn’t been yesterday. Not that anyone needed to know that.

  
“Ah, okay.”

“Did Christine ask you to interrogate me?”

  
“No…well, yes. She’s just worried. We all are.”

  
“Why?” Jeremy was thankful for the new friends, they’d been a lot of fun to hang out with over the past semester, but he never really understood why they had all decided to become friends with him. Before, Rich had been a bully. Jake, Jenna, Brooke, and Chloe had ignored his existence. Christine had been an acquaintance, greeting him when he showed up in class or when they passed in the hallway, but aside from Michael, he hadn’t been close to any of them. Then Junior year started, and suddenly they were all sitting down at his table during lunch and talking to him like they’d been buddies since kindergarten.

  
Again, he wasn’t really complaining, he was just confused. Michael knew something, but he refused to answer no matter how much Jeremy asked. He claimed it wasn’t something he liked to talk about and guaranteed it was the same for everyone else. Jeremy always assumed something had happened to him, but he couldn’t remember. He tried to find any mention of it in the news, but found nothing, so all he could do was guess.

  
“Why what?” Jake countered.

  
_Why are you all so worried about me?_ He wanted to ask but knew he wouldn’t get an answer, so he switched routes. “Why are you always absent from rehearsal? We’re high schoolers, we don’t do much other than school, afterschool activities, the occasional homework, and parties.” Jake seemed to flinch away from the question, which was an interesting reaction from the intimidating 6-foot athlete.

  
“I’ve had problems with my family,” He explained. “My parents have come out of the woodwork, and the FBI is trying to catch them again, so they’ve been contacting me to see if I’ve heard anything, and they’ve been talking to my aunt and uncle. It’s been a mess.”

  
“Oh. S_ _ _ man, I’m sorry to hear that.” Most people knew about Jake’s parents. It’s not something he actively hid, but it also wasn’t something he talked about much. After the house fire last Halloween, a lot of the student body had come together to assist Jake. He housed hopped for a few weeks, and people donated clothes since most of his went up in flames. Eventually, his aunt stepped in and helped him rent an apartment and pay for food and other necessities, but the community really stepped in the first few months.

  
Also, Jake learned that alcohol and pyrokinesis do not mix well.

  
“Well, here we are,” Jake sang pulling up in front of the Publix. “You want me to wait? How are you getting back home?”

  
“I’m gonna walk,” Jeremy explained, hopping out,“so no need to wait.” Jake seemed to hesitate, but he nodded in understanding and waved as he pulled away.

  
Jeremy regretted refusing Jake’s offer as soon as he started the walk home. He’d bought more than he’d originally anticipated, and his arms were still somewhat noodle-y so they could only handle so much. He did make it home, but he dropped to the floor as soon as he stepped through the front door, groaning loudly in exhaust. He could hear his dad laughing from the kitchen and saw him poke his head around the corner.

  
“Long day, bud?” He asked as Jeremy shifted his head to look at his dad.

  
“Something like that. I have a friend teaching me self-defense, which is a secret I’m telling you in confidence because mom will murder me if she ever finds out, and I’m sore from our first lesson.”

  
“Ah, okay. Your secret is safe with me, champ. I’ve been advocating for you to learn to defend yourself for years now, but your mom won’t hear any of it.”

“This is why you’re my favorite! Michael’s coming over tonight, by the way. I think I told you this already, but I’m setting up in my room.”

“I assume that’s what all the junk food is for?” He motioned to the bags surrounding Jeremy on the floor. “Have fun, try not to be too loud.” Jeremy eyed his father trying to discern whether there was a second meaning to his words but gave up when Mr. Heere returned to the kitchen. 

Jeremy stayed still on the floor for a few more minutes before steeling himself for the journey up the stairs. It didn’t take long to set up his room. He’d somehow convinced his mom to let him keep a small flat screen in his room, so he no longer had to play off his desktop screen. Michael was supposed to arrive within the hour, so Jeremy decided to take a short nap. He figured Michael would wake him up when he arrived, but that never happened. Six-thirty had come and gone, and when Jeremy woke up his alarm clock read seven pm. It wasn’t like Michael to be late, so he figured he’d call. 

Michael answered after the third ring.

 _“Sup, buddy?”_ he sang. Jeremy could hear noise behind him and wondered where he was. _“You’re never going to believe who I am going out with right now.”_ He sounded so excited, but Jeremy couldn’t help but feel his chest tighten.

  
“Unless that person’s name starts with a ‘J’ and ends with a ‘Y’ I don’t care.”

  
_“Starts with a—OH! F_ _ _ Jeremy, dude! I totally forgot. _i_ _ how could I forget? We literally talked about it this morning! No, dude, listen. Nicole asked me to go see a movie with her tonight and I was so sure that I didn’t have anything planned. I—I don’t know what happened, honest.”_ Part of Jeremy felt hurt and betrayed. It wasn’t like this was the first time he’d been stood up by Michael, and he’d certainly ditched his friend before, but something about this time around hurt. He figured it was because he’d been looking forward to tonight because it had seriously been ages since they hung out, just the two of them. _“Look, Jer, I’ll tell her something came up and I’ll be over there ASAP.”_

  
“No! Mikey, that’s okay. Don’t do that. I know you’ve been into Nicole since that party last year. If you’re going on a date, then go for it. It’s not like I’m going anywhere, and it’s not like you’re going anywhere. We can always hang out another time.”

  
_“I feel bad.”_

  
_Good_

  
“Don’t. I’m fine.”

  
_“How about I come over bright and early tomorrow morning and we have a game day marathon?”_

  
“Sure. That would work. Have fun with Nicole and please don’t see a chic flick.”

  
_“Superhero movies all the way. It was her idea.”_ Jeremy laughed, wishing his best friend a good time once more before hanging up the phone. Some part of him was happy for Michael. He knew he liked Nicole. A lot of people like Nicole and Michael never thought he’d have a chance with her, but man had he tried. So yeah, Jeremy was happy for him, but it still hurt. And he was upset enough that he wanted to get out of the house so he picked up the phone and made another call.

 _“Hello, this is Sebastian.”_ He’d picked up after the fourth ring, and greeted him formally as if the Caller ID hadn't informed him it was Jeremy calling.

  
“Hey, Sebastian, what are you up to?”

  
_“Just hanging out at home working on some random technology. Why?”_

  
“I’m coming over.”

 

_“Okay? Is everything alright?”_

  
“I just don’t want to be home.”

  
_“I thought you were hanging out with Michael? I think he mentioned that when I met him the other day.”_  

  
“That was the plan, but he stood me up for a girl he’s been crushing on hard. So now my nights free and I’m feeling a bit upset, and I just want to get out of the house, but I don’t want to deal with Christine or Rich, who are my usual go to friends after Michael, so I figured I’d see if I could come to your place.”

  
_“You want a ride?”_

  
“That’d be nice. I’m gonna start walking though.”

  
_“That’s fine. I’ll find you. Heading your way now.”_ He hung up, and Jeremy threw a few changes of clothes into a backpack before heading downstairs. He told his mom he was going over to Sebastian’s place and there was a chance he’d stay the night. His dad questioned him about Michael, but Jeremy just shrugged and said something came up. Luckily his mother likes Sebastian, so she had no problems with his new plans and told him to be safe.

  
Jeremy had only been walking for about seven minutes when he heard Sebastian’s engine off in the distance. After another minute he’d pulled up beside him.

  
“You’re chariot has arrived!” The older teen joked, holding out a helmet. Jeremy rolled his eyes and got situated on the seat behind Sebastian.

  
“Ready when you are,” He informed, wrapping his arms around his driver's waist. Sebastian nodded, and the bike roared to life, heading back towards Main Street. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a fan of this chapter tbh, but i needed to get it out. Sorry it took so long I've had a busy two weeks 
> 
> Also for all the rarepair shippers i'm not going to add that chapter to this fic specifically, but i am going to write a bonus chapter and post it as a one shot. I'll link it to the story when it's done. I don't write smut but i do write fluff.


	6. Chapter 6

Michael wasn’t sure what to expect when he arrived Jeremy’s house the next morning. He felt like S_ _ _ after forgetting about their game night last night, but man he had had so much fun with Nicole. She was everything he’d thought she was. Funny and chill and a total _ _c_ _ _ _ nerd. Like he hadn’t actually been expecting her to be so, well, like him. She hid it well at school. Michael had never been that great around girls, but he had no problems with Nicole. In fact, they’d already planned a second date.

Still, he was looking forward to playing video games all day with Jeremy, or he _was_. He arrived at his best friend’s house that morning only to learn Jeremy wasn’t there. Michael had snuck in through the front door with the spare key he'd received from Jer's parents  snuck upstairs, but Jeremy’s bed was empty. It was clear he hadn't slept there which could mean a few different things. 

1,.he had been kidnapped.

2\. He was staying at someone’s house.

3\. He’s snuck out with a fake ID and was passed out in someone back yard or in a dumpster.

The third option had happened before. In another drunken situation, the duo had gotten wasted at a party and woke up half naked in a stranger's backyard sleeping in a pitched tent. That was not something they talked about regularly, but it was a funny story.

Still, Michael wasn’t too worried. Most people in the town knew Jeremy. If they saw him out on his own under the influence of anything they would likely have helped him. They would have called Michael or they would have called Mr. Heere. Most people knew better than to call Mrs. Heere unless they really thought Jeremy deserved dealing with that mess.

It was only nine, but He doubted Jeremy would have gone out this early. The room was still set up for what should have been an epic game night. No doubt if Jeremy had stayed home last night, half the snacks would have been eaten by now, but they were all still unopened.

Honestly, Michael probably deserved this, but he still wanted to find his friend. Jeremy usually always answered if it was him calling, so he dialed Jeremy’s number and listened to it ring until it went to voice mail. He tried again, only to get the same result. He tried again because he was persistent, and he doubted Jeremy would actually ignore him despite what had happened the night before. Finally, he got someone to answer, but it wasn’t Jeremy.

_“Hello?”_ Michael recognized the voice of Sebastian. Of course, Jeremy was with Sebastian.

“Where’s Jeremy?” Michael asked.

_“Straight to business, huh? Jeremy’s here. He’s not in the best shape. He may have gotten wasted last night. I tried to stop him—“_

“I doubt that.”

_“—but he seemed pretty hurt.”_ Michael took a steady breath. He was afraid of that. He’d heard about the tension between Jeremy and the drama squad. When he was stressed he didn't make the best decisions. “He also said he couldn’t stay mad at you.” That was a relief. Michael wasn’t sure what he’d do if Jeremy started ignoring him because he’d messed up. It’s not like this is the first time though. They’d both stood the others up for various reasons, and they were still as thick as thieves.

“How wasted was he?”

“Wasted enough that I don’t think he’ll remember any of this when his hangover passes.”

“Did he do anything last night? Was it just you two alone?” Sebastian was quiet at first, which was enough of an answer for Michael. There are many types of drunks and Jeremy is a flirty drunk. He was a touchy-feely drunk. He’d toss himself towards anyone with a pulse if he was drunk enough, which is why Michael always tried to be around when they partied. Or he limited their intake. Jeremy knew how he acted when he was drunk too. He'd seen a video someone had taken, and decided he never wanted that to happen again in public. 

“Is he always like that when he’s drunk?”

“Yes. Is he awake?”

“No, he’s passed out. I let him stay here because I don’t have a car, and trying to take him home on my bike wouldn’t have ended well.”

“Understandable. I’ll come pick him up. Where do you live?”

“I live above my shop, so just come park out front and I’ll carry him down. He’s—he’s gonna be feeling this when he wakes up.”

“It’s his own fault. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.” Michael hung up and sighed. He didn’t even want to know what had happened last night, and if Jeremy was as wasted as Michael was imagining, then Sebastian was right. He wouldn’t remember anything that happened last night. Probably for the best. At least this way, the only way Michael would hear about last night was via Sebastian, and he doubted the older teen had any intention of sharing.

Michael pulled up to Sebastian’s shop about twenty minutes later. He sent a text to the store owner, but Sebastian was already waiting with Jeremy in his arms. Michael got out and opened the back door so Sebastian could get their drunk friend into the back seat.

“You’re a good friend,” Sebastian said when he was sure Jeremy was in the car. “Jeremy was pretty upset last night, but he got two drinks in and he started talking about how much he loved you and how you were his closest friend. I don’t think he’s capable of hating you.”

“Yeah, that feeling goes both ways, Sebastian. We’ve basically known each other since we were in diapers. We have our differences, of course, but we’ve been through thick and thin. We’re basically brothers.”

“Must be nice to have a relationship like that. I’ve been on my own for most of my life; always on the move.”

“Criminal?”

“No. Just in high demand. Technopaths like me aren’t that common. People want me to work for them, and I don’t want to, but they refuse to leave me alone so I end up moving from place to place. Middle Borough seems like a really calm place; I like it here. I don't know how long I can stay, but I'm gonna try to make this place last.” Michael saw him glance at Jeremy. “I hope I can stay here longer than usual. Jeremy’s a nice guy. I’d like to get to know him more if I can.”

“Just be warned. I don’t have a problem with you being his friend so long as you don’t actively put his life in danger. His other friends though, they’re a little over protective. I’d be careful how you two communicate if you don’t want them finding out.”

“You seem overly protective of him.”

“He’s my best friend and he’s basically ability less, so of course I’m protective, but Jer’s his own person. He’s been surviving for all this time, I trust him enough to keep doing it. Also, I wasn't joking before, Sebastian. If you put his life in danger, you will be hearing from me and you will likely land up in the hospital.”

“I’ll be careful. Make sure he drinks Gatorade or something, and an old friend of mine had a cure for hangovers. It was ginger and honey. Maybe that’ll help.”

“Noted. Thanks, Sebastian.” He waved farewell to The teen but paused. “Oh, and thanks for saving Jeremy the other day. I meant to call and thank you, I guess I forgot.” He earned an odd look.

“You did call and thank me." Michael had no memory of this call, but he didn’t think much about it. He thanked Sebastian again and got in his car to bring Jeremy back to his house. He knew better than to bring him home. If Mrs. Heere was home then Jeremy would be screwed. Besides, it would be easier to take care of him back at Michael's house.

It wasn’t till around noon when Jeremy woke up. Michael had managed to carry him into his house and left him on his bed while he played video games across the room. The basement wasn’t very large, but it was furnished and was basically Michael’s room. It was convenient. He had to go upstairs to cook, but he had a mini fridge and a microwave down there.

“Sebastian?” Was the first thing that came out of Jeremy’s mouth.

“No, this is Michael. Sebastian asked me to pick you up since he doesn’t have a car.” Michael paused the game and migrated over to the bed. Jeremy tried to sit up, but plopped back down with a groan, hands massaging his temple.

“My head is pounding.”

“You got wasted last night, that’s why.” He handed him a Gatorade. “You know the drill.”

“Hydrate, electrolytes, food, repeat.” Yeah, they’d both been wasted before. “S_ _ _, Michael, what time is it?” He checked his phone and reported.

“Almost one in the afternoon.”

“_u_ _, sorry. We had a date this morning.”

“I mean, I stood you up last night, so it’s fitting that you stood me up this morning. How was Sebastian’s place.” Jeremy slowly sat up, grabbing the Gatorade bottle so he could slowly sip on it. He stayed quite for a while, trying to retrieve his memories from the previous night.

“I think I kissed him.”

  
“You—“

“Yeah. That stays between you and me.”

“I didn’t think you liked him like that. You guys just met too.” Michael wasn’t surprised. Jeremy became a lot more confident when drunk, and any small feelings he might have were drastically multiplied.

“Yeah, but—I dunno. I like him, he’s a cool guy. He’s like you, just older. I don’t really know what happened though, but eough about me. I don’t really want to think if that’s okay. How was your date with Nicole?” Michael beamed as soon as he’d been asked the questions.

“Jer, buddy. She’s so much better than I’d ever thought. We have a lot more in common than I ever expected, and things went so well that we already have a second date planned.”

“Man I’m happy for you.” And Jeremy did look happy for him. He knew how much Michael like Nicole.

“I gotta ask, Jer. Why didn’t you call Rich or Christine last night? Sebastian was saying you were really upset, you usually call one of the others when something like that comes up.” Michael could always tell when Jeremy was hiding something. He wouldn’t make eye contact, and he’d look up to the left as he debated whether to tell Michael the truth or if he should create some kind of lie. “Jer, you know I’m always on your side. Just tell me what up.”

“I just. I learned some stuff that the others are doing and I’m not sure how much I trust them.” That was the truth. It wasn’t the whole trust, but Michael was certain his friend wasn’t lying to him.

“What did you learn?”

“That they’ve been lying to me and deceiving me. I just—until I figure things out I’m trying to keep a little distance. I just don’t know what to think about it.”

“Well, that would be Christine has been calling me none stop.” He’d received a call from Rich too. He’d told them both what he always said. _Jeremy can take care of himself. You’re going to drive him away if you hover too much, and you’re hovering too much. There’s a surefire way to know when you actually need to worry, and when I see it, I’ll let you know._

“I feel like shit. I’m going to sleep some more. Thanks for bringing me to your place instead of bringing me home. My mom would have murdered me if she learned I had gotten wasted last night.”

“Anything for you, Jer.” He watched his best friend take a few more sips of the Gatorade before laying back down and promptly passing out again. He listened to Jeremy’s breathing, waiting till they’d evened out enough that he was certain he was asleep, before stepping out of the back door to call Christine.

_“Michael? Hey, what’s up?_ ” She’d answered on the second ring. She always answered on the second ring when her attention wasn’t somewhere else. She was always so afraid Michael was calling to tell her something terrible had happened but--

“You’re an idiot, Christine.” That probably wasn’t what she had expected.

_“What?”_ Michael was an observer and he and Jenna had an odd friendship going on, so he knew more than people gave him credit for. He always knew enough and he’d pieced together a general idea of what had been going on between Jeremy and the drama squad based on the info he'd gotten out of Jeremy and Jenna, and what he'd observed around school. 

“You are an idiot. Honestly, you have no right to be confused as to why Jeremy is keeping his distance. He’s not stupid, and he’s not a ten-year-old. How many times do I have to tell you that he can take care of himself? How many times do I have to explain how much he values friendships? How many times do I have to tell you to tell him the truth?”

_“Michael, you know we can’t. We can’t put his life at risk like that.”_

“Can’t or won’t?” Michael snapped. “Maybe trust him a bit more? You’re the one who wanted to be his friend, so start acting like one instead of acting like a babysitter.”

_“Did something happen?”_

“I’m just giving you a warning. The longer you wait the worse the damage.” He hung up after that and returned to the beanbag chair to continue playing his game. Jeremy woke up off and on throughout the remainder of the day, and Michael did what he could to help with the hangover. The Ginger and honey concoction apparently did more good than harm, and Michael stored that recipe in his back pocket for later.

Around three, Michael called Mrs. Heere and informed her that Jeremy was at his place and would probably be staying the night. There was no problem, of course, because the two had basically lived together at one of their two houses for all of their childhood. Jeremy had a toothbrush and like, two drawers full of his clothes at Michael’s house and Michael had the same at Jeremy’s place.

This was normal for them, but something felt odd. Looking at Jeremy, Michael couldn’t help feeling like something bad was about to happen. He usually had a good intuition, but he wouldn’t start to worry unless Jeremy did. Most people didn’t think Jeremy had an ability, and most people, when learning Jeremy was ability-less didn’t bother looking, but Michael wasn’t like most people. He was an observer and Jeremy wasn’t as ability less as everyone believed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is supposed to be a Powerless AU, but...
> 
> Anyway, here's a new chapter. I'm working on a lot of stuff this week so I don't know if I will be able to get any chapters out for another week or so. Summer school sucks, honestly. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy.   
> Sorry if there are errors, I tried to edit, but I do miss a lot.   
> Also sorry for the shorter chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

Jeremy was not in the best mood when he arrived at school Monday morning. No, he was in a pretty foul mood. Michael could tell with one look. Usually, Jeremy wore a smile or had a light air around him as he walked through the halls, but there was a dark look in his eyes, and he seemed to glare at anyone who approached him. He wasn’t still mad at Michael, but he wasn’t completely over it yet, but that wasn’t why he was mad. The main source of his foul mood was his lack of sleep. There were two moods he fell into when he was sleep deprived, he was either giddy and delirious, or he was ready to kill the loudest noise in the vicinity. 

In all honesty, he shouldn’t be tired. He’d slept most of Saturday and lazed around all of Sunday. He was sure he’d slept a solid eight hours, but he still felt exhausted. The result was Jeremy sleeping through most of his classes. Sleeping in class is never a good thing, but, but most teachers like Jeremy and let him sleep. So he would walk into class, sit down at his desk and promptly pass out. The good news was that he didn’t have to talk to his friends if he slept every class. He also avoids them during lunch since he camped out in the Library. The only time he couldn’t ignore them was at play rehearsal. 

They had all beaten him to the auditorium for once, which was impressive. Rich never beat him here, neither did Jake. He would usually walk to rehearsal with Christine, but he’d been keeping his distance from her so he’d been walking alone. Brook and Chloe were almost never on time, but there they all were, waiting for him on the stage. 

“Jeremy, can we talk to you?” 

“What? Is this an intervention?” he joked, but none of them laughed and he realized that’s exactly what this was. “Oh my god. What the _e_ _?” he yelled. “No, you don’t get to do this to me. That’s not how this friendship works!” The others shared a worried look, but Christine continued to watch him. 

“We’re just worried. You’ve been avoiding us and you have all these new bruises. We’re worried somethings going on and you won’t tell us.” 

“That’s because this is my life and I am under no obligation to tell you anything!” Jeremy snapped, his earlier crankiness coming back in full force. “You’re hovering over me like you’re my mother, Christine. All of you do. Why not give me a little space?”

“Dude, Chill. We’re just— “

“Worried? I know!” He snapped cutting Rich off. Brooke looked like she wanted to say something, but stayed quiet, Chloe was staring daggers, and Jake—well Jake rarely spoke to anyone except for Rich, at least that’s what Jeremy had noticed. “I realize I don’t have an ability like you all, and I realize our town is a hot spot of second wave villain attacks, but I have been alive for sixteen years. I have survived nearly seventeen years. I can take care of myself!” 

“Why do you keep showing up to school with bruises?” Brooke asked. “I saw them by accident, but they looked pretty bad.” 

“Well, if you must know, I have a friend who offered to teach me self-defense so I could get people like you off my back!” 

“What friend? You don’t have any?” 

“Chloe!” 

“Well, it’s true. Aside from us, no one else at school really talks to him.” Jeremy scoffed, rolling his eyes and staring down his so-called friend. 

“Honestly I’m not even sure if you all are my friends. I still don’t know why you decided to be friends with me? Is it some guilt thing? I know something happened last year that involved me, but since I don’t know details, can I assume you all were involved too? Do you feel guilty for not being able to help me? Is that why your hovering now? Did you actually want to be my friends or are you just…I dunno, my self-appointed body guards?” 

“Of course, we want to be your friend!”

“Then why lie to me?” He snapped, dropping his backpack to the floor. He rummaged around in the main pouch until he found the correct notebook. He pulled out the photos he’d failed to toss out. “Explain this,” he ordered handing Christine the photo. The others crowded around to get a good look. 

“Jeremy, what is this?” 

“That is the rehearsal you all swore you would be at; the one you didn’t actually show up to. I mean, I thought you all showed up late, but my friend took a picture of this and clearly something's off because while I was under the impression all of you had shown up for a late rehearsal, turns out it was just Christine. You used your ability on me, didn’t you?” She was quiet, which was enough of an answer. “Thought so.” 

“Who is this friend of yours?” Chloe asked. He wasn’t sure why it mattered. Sebastian had nothing to do with any of them, but they were all watching him expectantly and he snapped. He hated the way they looked at him; like he was a child who needed protecting. Like he was incapable of doing anything for himself. Like he was weak. 

“His name is Sebastian Qu-Ucal Ishida Pastore,” he was sick of his so-called friends questioning him about where he’d been and who he was hanging out with…as if they actually cared. “While you all have been fluttering about, avoiding me and missing rehearsals like it’s no big deal, he’s treated me like a friend.” Which is to say he didn’t hover like a mother hen. 

“Jeremy— “ 

“No!” He threw his notebook across the stage, “I’m done! Let me know when you all want to tell me what’s actually been going on with you lately. Let me know when you want to do normal friend stuff like bowling or going to a movie. Let me know when you want to start being honest with me!” He stormed out of the auditorium, and Christine wanted to go after him, but like the others, she was frozen in place. She glanced nervously at the others around her as is finally dawned on her that they may be facing a situation worse than anything they’d ever faced before. 

“He’s friends with the Squip.” Jeremy was friends with the rumored super villain of all super villains. They’d heard about him from other heroes. A man so clever and shady he could organize crime without actually being involved. “Oh god, how could this have happened? Some friends we are if we didn’t even know.”

“So, what are we going to do about it?” Rich asked. Christine didn’t have an answer. They wanted to protect Jeremy, but he wouldn’t believe them if they told him his new friend was a villain. The only way he might believe them is if they told them their secret; that they were the heroes who protected the city, but that would only put Jeremy in unnecessary danger, wouldn’t it?

“I-I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out. We always do.” She just hoped it wouldn’t be too late. She hopped up ready to start rehearsal, even if Jeremy had left, but stopped when her phone buzzed. “Oh look, perfect timing.” She hummed informing the rest of the group of the problem at hand. The problem with Jeremy would have to wait. 

Jeremy, of course, had already left the building. He’d sent a text to Sebastian on the way out asking if he wanted to meet at the place they went to when they first met. Jer intended to walk the whole way over. It wouldn’t be that awful, and he wanted the time to cool off. He retreated into his mind, letting muscle memory take over as he made his way towards Main Street. He wasn’t really thinking about much, although his thinking was more like him yelling the words he knew he could never say to his friends. 

He hadn’t heard his phone go off until he was almost to his destination, and even then it wasn’t the phone that snapped him out of his daze. There was an explosion, a loud one. It was the tell-tale sign of a villain attack, but it was close. When he looked up, Jeremy realized it wasn’t just close, it was right in front of him. “Oh, s_ _ _!” He back pedaled trying to get away from the fighting, but he was a little slow. There was an explosion somewhere off to his right and he felt something hit his head. 

He wasn’t really sure what happened after that. He remembered hearing someone call his name, a girl…maybe. Someone else was calling his name as well. His vision was blurry and his ears were ringing, but he was certain someone was standing over him. 

“Jer—J— “he groaned trying to sit up but felt someone push him down by his shoulders. “Jeremy, focus on me, okay?” He mumbled a bit, trying to process the words, but found himself looking at the speaker anyway. “You’re going to be okay. You got hit in the head by some debris, but you’ll be fine.” All Jeremy could get out was another groan. He tried to sit up, but Sebastian kept him pinned. “Not yet. I’ve got a debris field around us so we should be okay for now. And the heroes out there are trying to lead that weird laser cat villain away from this area.” Jeremy simply nodded, unable to do anything else. His head was pounding and his thoughts were swimming and nothing made sense. His memory felt a little hazy, and he realized he may have a concussion this time. 

“My mom’s going to murder me,” he moaned. “No, not murder, she’s going to wrap me in bubble wrap and lock me in a padded room for the rest of my life.” Sebastian laughed.

“At least you can still joke around.” Jeremy tried to look around to see what was going on, but he couldn’t see much. He squinted at the space passed Sebastian’s shoulder, and slowly realized why that was. There seemed to be a wall of metal surrounding them. 

“What the— “

“Technopath, Jeremy. I dismantled all the cars in the area, and summoned whatever metal I would find to create a barrier around us,” he explained, picking up on the confusion. “When the coast is clear I’m going to bring you back to my place.”

“Sounds…ideal.” He mumbled, not really wanting to debate any other options. “Why were you here?” He asked. As far as Jeremy knew, he wasn’t near the malt shop he’d taken Sebastian to when they’d first met. 

“I’m here because you wouldn’t answer your phone and I was worried,” Sebastian explained, looking around. “There was an attack on Main Street and I wasn’t sure if you knew. I was trying to call you, but you wouldn’t answer so I came looking. I was running up the street when I saw you get hit in the head.” 

“Well, what would I do without you?” 

“Probably end up in the hospital in a coma, but the heroes that protect this city appeared concerned, the girl…uh…Mind Warp came over. She seemed pretty worried about you. Do you know her?” 

“No, but I’m sure she knows me. I get stuck in sticky situations pretty regularly. I’m a common name among heroes.” 

“That’s not a good thing, Jeremy.” 

“I’m aware.” Jeremy closed his eyes to wait until they could leave. He felt tired, but he knew better than to let himself sleep. If he did have a concussion there was a small chance he could fall into a coma if he slept (or so he’d been told). He wasn’t sure how much time had passed before Sebastian was helping him to his feet. “Ah, are we leaving now?” He asked, as Sebastian wrapped one of Jeremy’s arms around his shoulder, and wrapped his own arm around Jeremy’s waist.

“We’re leaving now, yes.” Jeremy still felt out of it and felt bad for making Sebastian basically carry all his weight. He was happy when they eventually made it back to Sebastian’s tech shop, but they didn’t stop there. Jeremy found himself being led to the back room and being taken down to Sebastian’s underground home. “Does your head hurt?” Sebastian helped Jeremy onto one of the beds in his spare room. “I have something you can take, let me go get it.” Jeremy nodded as his friend left the room for the medicine. He took this moment to check his phone.

There were numerous missed calls and messages. A number of them were from Christine, a few from Jenna. Michael had called a few times as well, and Jeremy decided to start with Michael. He sent him a quick text saying he was okay and he was with Sebastian, but he’d been hit in the head and would probably stay the night. He ignored Christine and texted Jenna who’d been warning him about the attack on the main street. He told her thanks, and that he was safe. He also sent a quick text to his mom so she would know he was okay. 

When he was done, he put his phone on the do-not-disturbed setting and set it aside. He stared at the ceiling, going through everything that had happened today. Frankly, he was tired of people having to protect him. He hated it. He hated how it made him feel. He hated feeling weak. Like if the going gets tuff he has to run in the other direction or risk hospitalization or death. He scowled, turning over on the bed to scream into a pillow. 

“Uh…Jeremy?” Sebastian had returned. He sat up instantly, a thought coming to mind. 

“Hey, hey, hey. I have a question!” 

“And I probably have an answer.” 

“Do you still have the squip?”

“The…why? Did you change your mind?” Part of Jeremy knew he’d probably end up regretting this, but the other half was sick of people having to protect him. He was sick of other’s babying him like he wasn’t a teenager who could take care of himself. He could, by the way, take care of himself, but he didn’t know how to make others believe him. 

“Yeah. I changed my mind.” He was going to regret this, but he would save that for later. Right now, he just wanted people off his back. “I want to take the squip.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, and thank you for being patient. 
> 
> The next few weeks are going to be pretty hectic, so I might not be able to update again for a while.
> 
> Also, i did my best editing, but if i missed anything please let me know.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There might be a lot of errors, sorry. School just started and i've been hella busy, but enjoy this chapter, hopefully it's okay.

When you’re friends with someone long enough you can tell when something is wrong with them before they’re standing right in front of you. Usually, Jeremy was good at hiding when he felt bad, but today was different. He stumbled up to his locker, where Michael was waiting, a far off look in his dazed, lidded eyes. He looked like he was going to fall over any second, so Michael, being the concerned best friend that he is, dragged Jeremy into the nearest room and plopped him down in the first empty chair.

“What is wrong with you?” He asked, crouching down in front of Jeremy. There were warning alarms going off in Michael’s head, but he ignored them for the moment. This wasn’t the first time Jeremy had come to school looking like he was going to pass out, and bad things had happened the other times.

“Nothing is wrong!” Jeremy sang over excitedly. His words were unclear and he was slurring them as if he were drunk, but Michael knew he wasn’t drunk. If he’d been drinking, Michael would be able to smell it because it takes a lot to get Jeremy this…loopy?

“Something's clearly wrong.” Michael watched Jeremy's eyes roll slightly, as his head fell forward. He caught him by the shoulders so he wouldn’t fall out of the seat.

“Mmmmmmm fine, Mikey, swear it.” Michael didn’t believe him.

“When’s the last time you slept?”

“Sleep is for the weak!” Jeremy yelled, gaining the attention of a few students who were walking by outside.

“Jeremy, when is the last time you slept?” Michael asked more forcefully. He got an odd look from his best friend.

“You’re mad. I’m sorry, did I make you mad? I didn’t mean to. Mikey, Mikey, Michael! I don’t like it when you’re mad. Be happy. Don’t worry.” He paused for a second and then laughed. “Wait, it’s 'don’t worry be happy.'” Michael took a long breath, this was not going to be easy. He had seen Jeremy go a few days without sleep, but the sleep deprived weirdness wouldn't hit him until the third or fourth day. He’d been fine for most of the week, but Michael had noticed the beginning signs of his sleep deprivation at the end of class yesterday. He'd hoped he was imagining things, but obviously, he hadn't.

“I’m not mad, Jere, just tell me when you last had a full nights rest.” Jeremy had to stop and think about it, which was enough of an answer for Michael.

“Sometime before Monday. I haven’t been sleeping well since then. I keep having….weird dreams and they wake me up and I can’t get back to bed.” Michael’s grip tightened on Jeremy’s shoulders, as he took a steadying breath.

“So you haven’t slept since Monday?”

“Yessssssss...No?" Jeremy looked confused. "I haven't slept since Monday."

“Alright, we are going to the clinic. You are going to sleep, and then I am taking you home after first period.”

“Mikey? Michael? Noooo. You don’t have to. I’m fine. I swear!” Jeremy tried to say, but his words were still slurring and Michael could mostly make out his name and a couple half-a_ _ _d lies. Carefully, he helped Jeremy to his feet, slinging one of his best friend's arms around his shoulder, and wrapping his own arm around Jeremy’s waist, and began to pull him from the room.

Michael was a little shorter than Jeremy, but he was bigger, and by default, stronger, so having to carry about half of his buddies body mass wasn’t too horrible. It was when Jeremy decided he no longer wanted to walk that the problems started.

“Jeremy, don’t you _ _c_ _ _ _ dare!” Michael yelled as his buddy went limp in his arms. He stumbled a bit, not wanting to drop his friend to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He managed to lay him down gently, and groaned, realizing his friend was in fact still awake. “Jeremy, I will drag your _s_ across the floor. I don’t care what kind of odd looks I get, I will drag you by your feet up to the clinic.” Truthfully he would probably just carry him, Jeremy was super light despite his tall size, and they were already on the second floor of the school so it was just a matter of getting him to the front of the school.

“Mmmmikey, mm tired,” Jeremy mumbled. Michael crouched down in front of him, shaking his shoulder gently.

“I know, buddy. I know you're tired, but I’m trying to bring you to a bed. Help me out a bit, okay? Then you can sleep.” Jeremy scrunched up his nose when Michael suggested sleeping, but he still nodded his head and let Michael pick him up.

Michael had fewer problems getting Jeremy up to the clinic after that. He helped him sit down on a cot, and pulled over a chair because he wanted to talk to him first. He had to stay there anyway because Mrs. Lester wasn’t in the room. He figured Jeremy would pass out as soon as he laid down, so he needed to wait around and explain the situation.

“Hey, Jere?” Michael tried to grab his attention but could tell he was already losing him to the pull of sleep. “Jeremy, look at me for a second.” His best friend responded, looking away from the cot and to Michael. “Why haven’t you been sleeping?” Michael knew from their childhood that Jeremy wasn’t one to not sleep. When he was tired, he would be asleep before his head hit the pillow, but this was different.

“I dunno. I just…I fall asleep and then wake back up.”

“Are you having nightmares again?” The word seemed to be familiar, and Jeremy nodded.

“Yeah. I’m having those.” Michael just nodded, his mind already racing. He let Jeremy lay down and watched him immediately pass out. He sat there for a while, watching him, wondering if he would have another nightmare.

Mrs. Lester arrived a few minutes before the warning bell, and Michael explained the situation. He told her that Jeremy needed to go home, and if she could call his mom to come pick him up that would be great. He said he’d be back after first period to check on him, and then he left for first period.

Michael had chemistry first period. There was a fair amount of students, and he’d been lucky enough to get a seat at one of the black lab tables instead of a desk. He preferred it back there since it was easier to hide. And, despite what most people probably believed, Michael was an A-B student. Teachers both loved and hated him because he seemingly never paid attention to the lessons but always passed his exams (more because his moms instilled good study habits in him at a young age, so school has always been somewhat simple for him).

Usually, he would take notes or he would jot down info he hadn’t already read in the book or he would copy down the practice problems, but today he was distracted by his best friend. He didn’t like that fact that Jeremy was having nightmares because Jeremy and nightmares were ever a good combination. Bad things always happened when he had nightmares, and the only thing Michael wanted to do was pack Jeremy in his car and drive him home, but there was something else that was bugging him.

Michael wasn’t like Jenna. He couldn’t hack electronic signals like she could, but he could sense them. If it had an electronic pulse, he could detect it even if he couldn’t do anything to it, and he’d picked up something from Jeremy, something that hadn’t been there before. He’d been noticing it all week and had assumed it was nothing, but there was a pulse emitting from the back of his neck. He wasn’t sure what to make of it, and he didn’t want to ask about it, but maybe he should have. If it was something though major, he knew who he had to go to for answers.

Halfway through the period, Michael’s phone rang. His teacher stopped the lesson to stare at him, and Michael stared back as he picked up the phone and spoke: “Hello, this is Michael.”

“Michael? This Is Jeremy’s mom.”

“Hi, Mrs. Heere. I think I know why you’re calling.”

“Jeremy is sick and I can’t come to pick him up. Would you be able to drive him home? I’ll pay you for gas money.”

“Oh, no need. I figured I would have to drive him home anyway. I won’t be able to leave until after first period though, is that okay?”

“That’s fine. Thank you, Michael.”

“No problem, Mrs. Heere. I think my teacher is trying to blow up my phone with his eyes, so I think I should probably leave.” He didn’t wait for a response, but hung up his phone and holding it out for Mr. Morris to confiscate.

“I should confiscate this for a week,” he huffed. “I should give you detention or send you to the principal’s office.”

“But you won’t,” Michael replied so only his teacher could hear.

“No, I won’t.” Michael smiled at him. “You can have it back at the end of the class period.”

Michael Mell was not a teacher’s pet, but his mom is a defense attorney, and one can learn a lot from someone like that. So, he’s not a teacher’s pet, but he is, and always will be, all of his teachers favorite student. It was purposeful, of course. Mr. Morris would have sent any other student who answered the phone in the middle of class to the principal’s office and their phone would have been locked in his drawer until the end of the day. But Michael wasn't every other student and he only lost his phone for the period and got off with a warning.

He doodled in his notebook for the remainder of the period and hurried out the door when the bell eventually rang. He had Study Hall next period which was easy to get out of. He just had to sign and and then sneak out. He’s done it plenty of times before so he wasn’t concerned. He walked into the media centered, signed his name, and walked out before the bell even rang, heading for the clinic.

Truthfully he planned to ditch the rest of the day and chill at Jeremy’s place. He didn’t want to leave him home alone because it would be disorienting to suddenly wake up at home when he'd fallen asleep at school. And it’s not like Michael had anything important happening in his classes.

He walked in the clinic and nodded hello to Mrs. Lester, but stopped cold in his tracks. The cot he had left Jeremy on earlier was empty.

“Where is Jeremy?” He asked, trying to hide the panic in his voice. Maybe he’d woken up and gone back to class. Maybe everything was fine. Michael was probably over thinking again.

“Oh, his mom came and picked him up.” Michael stared. He stared for a while, obviously making the older woman uncomfortable, but his mind was spinning.

“His mom…walked in? She just walked in and picked him up?” That didn’t make sense. She’d just called and asked him to take Jeremy home.

“Yes. Mrs. Heere walked in and picked up her son. Is there a problem?”

“No.” Michael said. If he said yes, he would have to explain that whoever had just walked in hadn’t been Jeremy’s mom and that he had, in fact, most likely just been kidnapped. Then the police would be involved, and they would keep Michael here to question him and—“Everything’s fine,” Mrs. Lester would probably lose her job too. She’s the one who let the strange woman steal Jeremy. Even if she had somehow taken the shape of his mom, the school wouldn’t care. And Michael liked Mrs. Lester. She let him take naps on the cot during second period sometimes, and he would rather not have to go through the process of befriending a new nurse. “I’m glad Mrs. Heere was able to come pick him up. I’ll see you around, Mrs. Lester.” He waved farewell and walked across the main room to the check-out window.

“Hello, Michael.” Mrs. Carol said when she spotted him. She was a shorter white woman, with soccer mom hair and glasses.  
Michael liked her a lot and she’d been able to get him a parking pass when he’d failed to get one in the lottery system.

“Hi, Mrs. Carol, I need to check out.”

“Do you have a note?”

“No, I don’t, but I have a doctor’s appointment I can’t miss. You know me, I’m a bit forgetful and I forgot to get my mom to write and excusal note, but if I miss this appointment I won’t be able to schedule a new one for another month. I can’t go a month without my ADHD medication, Mrs. Carol. I swear I’ll bring in a note tomorrow if you let me go today.”

“Bring a doctor’s note, Michael.” The woman ordered, handing him the pen so he could sign out. Michael nodded, understandingly, but cussed mentally because he couldn’t and wouldn’t forge a doctor’s note. Maybe his mom knew someone who would be able to help. Maybe it wouldn’t matter since the only reason he had to lie was because his best friend had been kidnapped by god knows who.

As Michael rushed out to his car, he called Jeremy’s phone, but it went straight to voicemail. He expected as much. If it were on, he could track it. Well, he could get Jenna to track it, but if he'd been kidnapped the first thing the abductor would have done his ditch his phone.

“_h_ _!” he glanced back to the school building, debating if he should tell Christine or Jenna about what had happened. Knowing them they would go crazy. They would tear the town apart looking for him. Michael didn’t want to deal with that chaos yet. He wanted more information before he pulled them into this.

The biggest problem was that Michael had no idea who had taken Jeremy, or why they had taken him. Finding out that info was his first step, and he knew exactly where he wanted to start.

He wouldn’t lie and say he drove the speed limit, and he would deal with whatever traffic ticket came his way after those three red lights he ran. He would also deal with the parking ticket he would probably get as he parked along the curb outside of Sebastian’s shop.

“Michael, hey!” The older man greeted, finishing up with one of his customers. Michael, wasn’t very happy. During the entire trip over he’d somehow worked himself into a rage that was focused on the owner of the store.

“Leave,” Michael ordered, eyes focusing on the customer. There was a malicious aura streaming off him, and the customer got a clue, grabbed his stuff, and fled the building. Sebastian glared at him, clearly annoyed that he’d just lost a customer, but seemed to relax a little when he got a good look at Michael.

“What’s wrong?”

“Where is he?”

“Where is who?” Sebastian looked genuinely confused, but Michael wasn’t buying it. This confrontation was going to happen sooner or later, since he was certain Sebastian was the cause of whatever signal he'd picked up from Jeremy's lower neck, but he'd hoped it would be at a time when he wasn't in a blind rage. “I know it was you! I know it probably has something to do with whatever signal I was picking up from him!” He snapped, his ability reacting to his unnatural anger. Lighting sparked off of him, clashing into the walls. Sebastian didn’t flinch but watched Michael calmly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The thing in Jeremy’s neck. I’ve been picking up on some signal all week. It a really weak electrical output, but it’s still there. I don’t know what it is, but he only has so many friends and since you are a technopath I just assumed! So where is Jeremy? I know you took him!”

“Took him?” Sebastian snapped. “Michael I honestly don’t—“ the lightning responded again, shooting out in tendrils and lighting up the store with sparks as electricity clashed against metal.

“I don’t buy it, Sebastian! Where is Jeremy? What did you do to him?” The technopath was finally starting to look panicked, and hopefully, it was enough for him to start talking.

“Okay, okay! Michael just calm down. I don’t know what’s going on, but I can tell you what I know, okay?” The teen was hesitant but nodded.

“Fine, but if I suspect you’re lying to me.”

“I won’t lie. Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but I know what that signal you’ve been sensing is. I’m the one who gave it to him.” Michael breathed deeply and motioned for Sebastian to continue. “We both know the Jeremy doesn’t have a quirk.”

“He has a quirk.”

“Then he doesn’t have a quirk that actively helps him protect himself from harm. After a near death experience the other day he asked me for it. I’d told him about it before and he refused, but I guess he had enough.”

“You still haven’t told me what it is.” Sebastian ran a hand through his hair, letting out a deep breath.

“You can’t tell anyone about this okay? Technically I wasn’t even supposed to tell Jeremy about it since I sold the designs to the military, but I like him, Michael, and I wanted to help. The thing I gave him is a super computer AI. Jeremy wants to call it the squip, but I never had a name for it. Basically, it's a chip that you swallow, and it’ll travel through your blood stream until it plants itself at the end of your brain stem where it can send, receive, and transmit signals to the rest of the body and from the brain. It sharpens all of your senses, helps with reflexes, basically gives him a little extra edge so he can sense when danger is about to befall him and be able to read and process his environment fast enough to be able to protect himself.”

Michael stared for a while. The entire story sounded a little ridiculous. If a technology like that existed, then news of it would have traveled all over the globe. Then again, Michael wouldn’t put it past Jeremy to try something like this. He seemed pretty irritated the last week.

“I—I’ll believe you…for now. Swear to me you had nothing to do with Jeremy’s kidnapping though.”

“Jeremy’s been kidnapped?” Sebastian looked like he really didn’t know, and Michael was almost convinced, but something seemed off. “How?”

“He was practically sleep walking this morning,” Michael began walking over to the counter as Sebastian began typing on the computer behind the desk, “so I brought him up to the clinic so he could sleep. I was planning on bringing him home after first period since Mrs. Heere called and asked, but when I went to get him he was gone. The nurse said his mom had picked him up, but that’s not possible since she called me to take him home specifically because she couldn’t get off of work.”

“So he’s missing?”

“What are you doing?”

“Tracking him,” Sebastian said turning the monitor. "The squip was used for military purposes, so they had me build in tracking functionality in order to be able to monitor the location of their assets”

“Why? So they could retrieve the chip in case they died?”

“No. The squip is designed to self-destruct if it doesn’t detect a heartbeat from its host over an interval of thirty minutes. They used to slip the pill into agents they thought were double crossing and would track their movements. It’s also useful to be able to track assets regardless if they’re spies or not. Basically, I can track Jeremy because of the chip.” The map on the screen zoomed in on a location outside of town, circling an area of warehouses. “And that’s where he is.”

“Great, we’re taking my car,” Michael ordered. “Let’s go.” He ran back out the door to his car, Sebastian on his heel, and raced off down the street, not bothering to worry about traffic laws. Nothing was going to stand in the way of him and protecting his best friend.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things aren't always what they seem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School sucks and it's been two months and thank you for your patience. There's a lot going on in my life so updates will probably be scattered, but I have the entire story planned out, it's only a matter of typing it out. I'll explain a little more why I haven't and won't update as frequently in the after notes.

Waking up was a lot harder than it should have been. It wasn’t due to Jeremy not being a morning person (he wasn’t really sure what time it was anyway), but more because Jeremy couldn’t tell if he was awake or not. It was a weird sensation. He remembered passing out at the clinic (sort of), he remembered Michael saying he would take him home after first period, but what he woke up to was the dark metallic walls of somewhere Jeremy couldn’t really name in his current exhausted shape. It took him a while, but after looking around and noticing all the old machines and crates

It took him a little while longer to realize that the reason he couldn’t move was because his hands were bound above his head. They were handcuffed together and then looped through a chain connected to something hanging from the ceiling. It explained the uncomfortable tension in his upper body. He tried to stand, to get a better look around, but his body was so exhausted and worn out that his legs wouldn’t work. And he was hanging at a weird height where his knees were just above the ground, but unable to actually touch down.

There was something sweet in the air, and if Jeremy really focused (which he couldn’t, he couldn’t focus on anything) he could hear a soft hum assaulting his ears. Then again his delirious brain was probably making it up. As it stood, he was already struggling to keep his eyes open. One moment he would be awake, or what he assumed was awake, and the next he would be back at the clinic. Then he would be staring back at the blank walls of the factory.

It was disorienting and confusing and he couldn’t tell which was which. He kept fading between both places and eventually mind just checked out. It stopped trying to make sense of what was going on and just accepted what was happening. There was no one near him, so there was no point in calling out for help, and there was no reason to try to escape because he couldn’t move. He couldn’t even think straight. He couldn’t focus on anything and honestly? He was having a hard time keeping the world in focus. It kept blurring in and out of clarity.

“Poor little Jeremy.” He didn’t know where the voice had come from, but he recognized it. “Why can’t you just stay out of trouble? You’re always causing problems for people around you.” He tried to look around to find Chloe, but she was nowhere to be seen.

“So confident in his ability to protect himself and yet, look at him.” It was Rich this time. He could practically picture the look on his face, already used to seeing it from the years of bullying the guy put him through. “How many times have you forced others to save your hide this week? Last week? More times to count on one hand I’m sure.”

“You say you can take care of yourself, and yet every time you turn a corner someone has to run to your rescue. How pathetic.”  
“Jake, where are you?” Jeremy asked, but his voice was hoarse. He wasn’t even sure if the words had come out. His throat felt dry and his head was spinning. His eyes rolled and for a brief second, he was back at school with Michael who was helping him out to his car, teasing him for even attempting to come to school in his current state.

“He’s going to replace you soon.” It was Jenna this time and she was right next to his ears. He didn’t even bother to open his eyes to look for her. He was too tired to try. “He’s finally starting to figure out how pathetic you are. Why else would he have ditched you? Why else would he be creating distance? He didn’t have to keep that job from the summer.”

“Fuck off,” Those came out. Jeremy growled them out in disgust. “I’ve known Michael since before we could walk, he’s not that shallow. And our relationship isn’t that shitty that he wouldn’t talk to me first.” Jeremy was certain of that much. Out of everyone he was friends with, when it came down to it, Michael was the only one he could rely on. Still, that didn’t stop the words from hurting.

“You’re holding him back”

“You’re selfish.”

“You’re pathetic.”

“Weak.”

“Annoying.”

The taunts kept coming, berating him like the winds of a hurricane, knocking him down with the intent of keeping him down.

“Shut up.”

“Jeremy?” He looked up, finding Christine crouching right in front of him. Some small part of him felt relief, but a larger part felt panicked. His brain as screaming ‘WRONG,’ but he didn’t know why. “I see you finally got in over your head,” she patted his cheek and laughed. “When are you going to realize that you’re powerless? You’re worthless in this world, Jeremy. The sole purpose of your existence is to be a damsel in distress, and yet you refuse. You refuse to accept this and cause so many problems for everyone else. It would have been easier if you just died in one of those accidents.”

His breath hitched, and he felt tears brimming in his eyes.

“You don’t mean that.”

“Oh, but I do. You’re such an inconvenience.” He heard the others chiming in around him, but he couldn’t see them. All he could focus on was Christine. Christine who he’d loved for so long, who’d turned him down last year, who thought he was worthless…

Christine who wished he was dead.

He tried not to react. The last thing he wanted was to let her know she’d gotten a reaction out of him, but he couldn’t stop the tears as she kept throwing insults, as the others kept repeating them. They filled up his mind, occupied his thoughts. It wasn’t a while until he realized the new voice that had joined the crowd was his own, but he didn’t have the energy to stop himself. He didn’t have the energy to do much of anything at this point. His head drooped and his eyes closed and instead of fading back to the clinic at school the world simply turned to dark as a chorus of insults and taunts swirled around him.

He wasn’t sure how long it had been since he’d passed out, but when he opened his eyes he was still exactly where he’d been left, tied up and chained in a factory. The only difference was he wasn’t alone this time.

“M—Michael?” his voice sounded strained, but he felt kind of happy because there was his best friend standing before him looking absolutely worried.

“Hey, Miah. How are you feeling?” He reached out and stroked his cheek. Jeremy flinched away briefly, feeling like he shouldn’t trust him like something was wrong, but he couldn’t figure out why he would feel that way. “Hey, hey. It’s okay. Sebastian and I are here now. We’re gonna get you out of here and bring you to the hospital.” Jeremy couldn’t see Sebastian, but he could feel someone messing around with the cuffs around his wrists.

“I think I got this one, make sure you catch him when he falls.”  
  
“Don’t worry I got him.” Michael did as promised. As soon as one of the locks from the handcuffs came undone, it slipped through the chain loop and Jeremy dropped to the floor like a rock.

“Check for any major injuries.”

“I know,” Michael mumbled, apologizing under his breath as he lifted Jeremy’s shirt up to check for any damage. They were both careful with him, and Jeremy couldn’t help but feel thankful. His arms hurt, his wrists were bruised, and he felt exhausted and couldn’t remember how he got there or what happened while he was held captive. It was like an entire moment of his life had been erased from his memories, but it left him with an odd sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“H-have you told Christine and the others.” Michael squeezed his hand softly.

“Of course, Miah. They’re your friends. I sent Jenna a text as soon as we found you. Just sit still okay? An ambulance is on the way. You’re going to be fine.”

“I don’t know what happened.”

“You were kidnapped,” Sebastian explained. “By who though, we don’t know. When we arrived the warehouse was empty and you were alone. He was scrolling through his phone nodding quietly to himself. “He’s showing signs of exhaustion and dehydration. As far as I can tell there isn’t any serious physical trauma, but the squip will only pick up on so much. It recorded increased heart rates so something must have happened, although the only person who would have access to that information is Jeremy.” He paused at looked away from his phone and at Jeremy. “And that’s only maybe. The squip records everything through the senses, but it’s an advanced AI. Its design is to help enhance the user's abilities. If what happened was something that would damage Jeremy’s psych it would have tossed out the record.”

“It can erase memories?”

“No. It can’t erase, but it may alter or block them depending on the severity. Of course, there is an over-haul option which will permit Jeremy to have access to them, but that’s only if he wants it.”

“Tell me again why you gave him this?”

“If I hadn’t given it to him we would still be driving around town search for him.”

“And I asked for it,” Jeremy mumbled softly. He had asked for it, and he was certain it was the reason he was so tired. He remembered the warning Sebastian gave him. He’d said it could cause severe insomnia for the first few days after consumption, and Jeremy figured he’d be fine. He’d dealt with severe insomnia before, but this…this had been on a different level. He felt tired, but it was like his body wouldn’t let him sleep.

“I can hear the sirens in the distance,” Michael announced. “Should we bring him out front or wait here?”

“Can you carry him?”

“Probably not alone. Can you?” Sebastian nodded and pocketed his phone.

“Yeah, I’ve carried him before. Go make sure your car’s ready so we can tail the ambulance to the hospital. Michael looked hesitant to leave Jeremy’s side, but he nodded and left to bring his car around so it would be ready. When Michael was gone, Sebastian knelt down beside Jeremy, helping him sit up.

“What happened?” He asked gently. “Jeremy, tell me what happened.” Jeremy hummed softly, wanting to answer, but not sure how to.

“M’not sure. I just…one second I was at school and the next you and Michael were here.” He was certain something had happened in the time between. He couldn’t remember the details, but there was still a feeling rooted deep in his chest. Panic and fear and disgust… “They were asking me questions?” he supplied, not sure where the information was coming from. “They thought…” he wasn’t sure this was right, but this was the info his brain was supplying him with so he went with it. He was too tired to oppose it. “They thought I knew who the town heroes were. Like, they thought I knew their civilian identities. They were…trying to force me to tell them.” Sebastian laughed softly, and Jeremy felt himself relax. He really did love the sound of his laugh

“Jeremy, I’m not sure there is a person alive capable of forcing you to do anything. You’re too stubborn.”

“Maybe.” He felt himself be lifted off the ground, and lazily draped his arms around Sebastian’s neck in order to make this easier for him. He felt safe. He felt safe with Sebastian. It was the same feeling he got with Michael, but one he lacked when he was with the others. They would probably meet him at the hospital too, but he didn’t want to see them. Just thinking about them walking into his room sent his mind into a panic. His breathing must have picked up because it wasn’t long before Sebastian was whispering comforting words to him, telling him to focus on his voice and nothing else.

“I’m going to protect you no matter what, Jeremy,” He promised in that voice Jeremy couldn’t get out of his head. “You can trust me. I’m here now, and nothing is going to hurt you anymore okay? You have me and you have Michael and we’re both here for you. We both want the best for you. You’re safe now. Whoever took you won’t be able to hurt you now.”

He just kept going, and Jeremy nodded his understanding, muttering hid thanks every now and then. He could hear the sound of the emergency vehicles sirens as they walked, and he barely noticed when Sebastian handed him over to one of the paramedics. He was sleepy. That’s the first thing he registered while he was being strapped down to the gurney. He felt safe and comfortable which was a drastic change from the past few nights when he fell asleep.

Before he felt anxious like the room was closing in and the world was coming to an end. He felt tense and it affected his dreams and his sleep. Now he felt comfortable. He heard Sebastian say they would meet him at the hospital and that he and Michael would be following right behind the ambulance, but he didn’t remember much after that, finally feeling comfortable enough to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay okay. First of all, I hope you liked this chapter. It's short, so sorry for that, but i finally sat down and had time to type. I'm a college athlete and training is in full swing and with that and school and other activities my day is booked and exhausting, so that's why updates are so spread out...
> 
> Sorry about that, but I can't do anything so again, thank you for your patience.  
> And I do have the entire story planned out so I will be finishing, but when i manage to finish is unknown. I'm gonna try to update sooner though. Two months is way to damn long. 
> 
> As usual, send me a comment to let me know your thoughts. I love hearing from y'all.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are weird and Jeremy is in the hospital. Sebastian has to fix his shop for an afternoon appointment. Christine makes Jeremy scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did my best with editing. 
> 
> Enjoy.

Michael didn’t leave Jeremy’s side for anything. He’d stayed the night at the hospital and convinced his mom to let him miss school the next day so he could be there when Jeremy woke up. He wasn’t alone the whole time, of course. Mrs. Heere showed up as soon as she had gotten the call and stayed until the sun set. She’d wanted Michael to explain what had happened, and he told her what he thought was safe. Sebastian had stayed for most of the afternoon, having only left about an hour after Mrs. Heere had arrived. He promised to be back in the morning and Michael held him to that.

“I didn’t actually leave the hospital,” he admitted when he arrived the next morning. He pulled a chair up beside Michael clearly looking like he was about to doze off. "I slept down in the waiting room.”

“That would explain why you look like shit.” Sebastian glared and Michael laughed.

“I’m not listed as family, so they wouldn’t let me stay the night in his room.”  
  
“I crashed in a chair up here, Sebastian, so it's not like I magically had a better rest than you because I was situated in a room.”

“So you say.” They laughed again, before focusing on Jeremy, who still laid unconscious on the bed.

“They said he should be fine,” Michael informed, answering the unspoken question. “He hasn’t woken up yet, but they set him up with an IV for the dehydration and said he was exhausted and would wake up when he was ready.”

“Yeah, sounds about right. I’ve been monitoring his vitals on my phone. Everything seems fine, he’s just tired. ” Michael glanced at Sebastian, wondering whether he should ask the question that has been on his mind since they found Jeremy.

“Aw, f_ _ _ it. Look, I don’t know what you fed Jeremy while he was with you, but I want you to explain it to me.” It wasn’t a request and Sebastian shouldn’t have any reason to refuse.

“So Jeremy doesn’t have an ability--”

“He does have an ability, but it’s irrelevant, keep going.” He noticed the questioning look from the older teen but ignored it.

“Okay? Well, he seems to find himself in dangerous situations a lot. The squip AI is meant to be a helper. It quite literally taps into his nervous system and helps him be more wary of his surroundings. A Car is flying at his face at fifty miles an hour? The squip will help him pick up on the impending doom and guide him to act accordingly to best keep him safe and alive. It basically boosts his reflexes and intuition.”  
  
“He already has a strong intuition.”

“Does he?”

“You haven’t noticed? I guess that would make sense. It’s not obvious at first.”

“You keep saying Jeremy has a quirk, Michael. How could you say that when Jeremy isn’t even aware of it?”

“Ah…well that would be because he can’t remember it. One would only be aware of it if they noticed the pattern, but no one ever notices the pattern.”

“You did.”

“Well, we’re basically brothers. We’ve known each other since we were in diapers. I notice a lot of things about Jeremy that he doesn’t notice about himself. He gets easily flustered when he has to speak in front of people, but when he’s telling someone off or standing up to others his speech is always crystal clear. He actually has very good insight. He picks up on patterns and…let’s just say you pick up on a lot more than you think when you’re constantly having to be aware of everything around you. He’s an observer. He’s also reckless and stupid, but I love him anyway.”

“I can tell.” Michael wasn't really sure what Sebastian was referring to when he said that, but obviously he'd noticed something.

“Are you referring to when I destroyed your shop because I warned you. If anything happens to him, I come after you first.”

“I suppose you did warn me.” Sebastian glanced at his phone and sighed. “As much as I’d love to stay until he wakes up, I do have to go back and restore the damage you did to my shop. I have appointment schedules for this afternoon so I need my shop to look at least halfway decent."

“That’s fine, dude. I’ll shoot you a text when he wakes up.” He thanked Michael and left the room. Michael stayed where he was. He had no intention of leaving until his best bud woke up. Turns out it would only be a few more hours. He woke up in the late afternoon, startling Michael who’d also dozed off during that time.

“Where am I?” Jeremy asked in a blind panic. The heart monitor was going wild and he was thrashing around in the sheets. One of the nurses came running, probably having noticed the change in heart rate, and went right to work on calming Jeremy down. Michael stood to the side letting the young woman do her job, only stepping forward when he knew he wouldn’t be in the way.

“Jeremy, hey,” he placed his hand on his arm, “I’m right here, everything’s okay.” That seemed to do more than whatever the nurse had tried because suddenly Jeremy’s arms were around Michael's neck and he was being dragged onto the bed.

“Oh, god. You’re real and you’re here, and…” There was a quiver in Jeremy’s voice, and Michael wasn’t all that surprised.

“Of course, buddy. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.” He held his best friend close, combing his fingers through his hair like he usually did when Jeremy was panicked. “You’re safe, Jerm, and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, okay?” He nodded and buried his head further into Michael’s shoulder. The nurse gave them an odd look, but Michael mouthed that everything was fine as he repositioned himself on the bed so he could hold Jeremy more comfortably.

“If you need anything just push the red button.” She motioned to the side of the bed and Michael gave her a nod of understanding, however, he doubted there would be any need for them to call the nurses in. He waited until they were alone in the hospital room before opening his mouth to speak.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” he asked, still combing his fingers through Jeremy’s hair. They had repositioned so Michael was leaning against the headboard with Jeremy halfway on his lap, his head leaning against Michael’s chest.

“I remember you and Sebastian finding me. I remember bits and pieces of the trip to the hospital. I remember—” he went stiff and Michael started humming some random tune to keep him calm.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it right now.”

“Thanks.” They stayed like that for a while. Michael kept his arms around Jeremy tell him about all the weirdos who called into the station that week in an attempt to keep him laughing and distracted. It worked. Michael had a knack for getting his best friend to relax, but it didn’t last as long as he’d have hoped. It was about an hour later when the doors opened and in stumbled a gaggle of their friends. Rich came in first, Then Jake. Brooke was there as well and finally, in walked Christine.

Michael was immediately aware of how tense Jeremy became as soon as the first person walked through the door. He actually backed further into Michael’s embrace in attempt to escape.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Michael whispered as Rich called out loudly, “Jeremy! You’re awake.” Michael didn’t like how small his best friend had become. He didn’t like that fact that he was audibly whimpering the closer the others got.

“Make them leave, I don’t want them here,” Jeremy begged, voice hoarse with fear.

“I—what?” Christine approached the bed, placing a hand gently on Jeremy’s shoulder. She looked sad and upset. She was probably going to apologize for not being able to protect him, but before she could get a word out, Jeremy shrieked and slapped her hand away.

“Don’t touch me!” He seemed frantic and Michael couldn’t figure out why. Jeremy had never been like this around the theater team. He wanted to try to calm Jeremy down and figure out what was wrong, but when Jeremy turned around and stared at him, panic pooling in his tear-rimmed eyes, he couldn’t just bring himself to take that route. Every fiber of his being was literally screaming at him to protect.

“You all need to leave,” Michael ordered while Jeremy hid his head in his shoulder. “Now.”

“Michael we—”

“ _Now_ ,” he said more forcefully, but the others were stubborn.

“We’re just here to check on a friend because _we_ are his friend too.”

“Yeah and we—” they all stepped back in alarm, witnessing something they’d never seen before.

“I swear to god, if you do not leave this room right now I will electrocute all of you where you stand.” Michael was not a violent person, in fact, most people weren’t aware of the full extent of his ability. He rarely had any reason to use it, but the way his eyes glowed--like an oncoming storm--was enough of a message to the gang.

“Fine! We’ll leave, Michael. Just…keep us informed, okay?” He said nothing, just glared as they filed back out of the room. As soon as they were gone, he called in the nurse.

“Those people,” he told her, “ All those teens who came in to visit him, under no circumstances are they to be allowed in here again.” It wasn’t really a threat, but it was obvious by the body language of both boys that nothing good had happened.

“Alright, I’ll tell the front desk.”

“Thank you.”

When they were alone again, Michael returned to combing his hands through Jeremy’s hair and humming simple tunes in his ear. “It’s okay, they’re gone now,” he said but didn’t attempt to make Jeremy move from his position. He was well aware his now damp shoulder, but he said nothing about it. “I’m right here, I’ll protect you.”

“You won’t leave?” Michael’s heart broke at how broken Jeremy’s voice sounded

“I’m not going anywhere, Jeremy.” It was a promise to himself more than it was anything else. Michael had no intention of ever abandoning Jeremy. He couldn’t imagine a life without his best friend. He didn’t even want to think of it. Hell, they'd been planning to go to college together since they learned college was a thing they had to do.

He kissed the top of Jeremy’s head, “I promise, I won’t ever leave you alone so long as I can help it.” They didn’t move from their positions, and eventually, they both fell asleep. It would be another few hours till Mrs. Heere got off work and came to the hospital to check on her son. She intended to stay the night, but she didn’t have the heart to wake either boy from their slumber.

 

**:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

 

“I want what you promised me.” Sebastian sighed loudly as the hooded figure stated her demands for the umpteenth time.

“I heard you the first time.”

“And yet you ignore me.”

“Because I’m thinking, Meredith. You didn’t follow through with the agreement; I shouldn’t have to pay you.”

“It’s not as easy as you think. My ability creates illusions and causes people to see their worst fear. That kid's worst fear is losing that Michael person, but every time I tried to make him see that…he just…wouldn't. I don’t know. I had no issues with the other students.”

“It’s all right. I happen to like Michael, so it’s okay. Still, you didn’t do what we agreed to, so I have no intention of paying you.” He turned to face his customer. “Meredith, don’t you dare try to use your ability on me, we both know it won’t work.” The girl scowled. “Take your hood off.” She did. Black and purple hair became visible, framing a thin face that house sharp grey eyes.

“Don’t think I won’t tell everybody about what happened here!” She shot, her short fuse having been lit long before she’d arrived at Sebastian’s shop. “You hired me for a job and you’re not going to pay me? No one is ever going to accept your offers ever again.”

“Oh, I don’t pay anyone I hire,” he laughed as if it were an inside joke. “Drop the knife.” Metal clattered to the ground and Sebastian turned back to his guest. “You actually thought you could successfully use that against me?” He walked over and picked up the switchblade. It was a fine piece of metal work and could do a good amount of damage. He pressed it against the woman’s neck drawing a drop of blood. “You’re going to leave,” he ordered, staring her straight in the eyes. The grey hue of her eyes reflected his own blue ones. “You are going to leave and you are going to go back to where ever you originated from and you will forget about me in my entirety. You will forget what I hired you for, you will forget you ever came to this town.” He got no response and sighed. “Say ‘yes’ if you understand.”

“Yes.” Sebastian smiled and handed her back the knife. “I doubt my ability will fail me, but just in case it does. Always be aware—in the back of your head—if you ever let anything slip, I will find you. Dying via electrocution is a terrible way to go Meredith and I pray you never have to experience it.” He patted her cheek, a warm smile on his face as he pulled her hood back over her head and turned her towards the door. “Don’t let anyone see you leave. If you get caught and asked why you came to this town go ahead and jump off the nearest tall building, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good girl.” He pushed her out the door and watched her walk down the sidewalk, slipping into the closest shadow and disappearing from sight. With that out of the picture, Sebastian could return to fixing up his shop. He had finished most of the repairs. Electrical damage wasn’t difficult for him to reverse so he was basically done. He did have to remount a few shelves, but he wouldn’t be able to do anything about that until he took a trip to the hardware store. He figured he would just go to his underground home, but his phone went off before he reached the lift.

 

_From Michael:_   
_Jeremy woke up. I thought you’d like to know._

 

Sebastian smiled and grabbed the keys to his bike. He sent a response as he ran out the door.

 

_Glad to hear it. I’ll head that way now._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was a short chapter, but it's been a month and about around that time to update. I have a research paper I have to focus on for the next two weeks, which is why I wanted to get this out. 
> 
> So yeah...Short chapter, but I think it tells you a lot. 
> 
> Also, if anyone ever ever draws anything for this fic (first of all i would be fucking honored you have no idea) and second, you can find me on tumblr @violet-the-vulpix. 
> 
> Even if you just have questions about the fic you can PM me here or on tumblr. 
> 
> Have a good night.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They done messed up.

Jeremy didn’t return to school for another week, and during that entire time, no one from the theater gang showed up at his house once. Usually, they got information about Jeremy from Michael, who was willing to give it, but hesitant to hang around them. He still wasn’t sure why Jeremy was so scared of the theater gang, but Michael wasn’t one to push for information.

  
Michael drove Jeremy to school the next Monday when he returned and didn’t leave his side the entire time in the hallway. It was clear that Jeremy was uncomfortable with the crowd, so Michael remained his buffer. He sent deathly look at anyone who tried to get too close and sent especially deathly glares anytime Christine tried to approach. He’d made it very clear the week before that they were not supposed to approach him unless Jeremy explicitly said he was okay with it. Michael couldn’t be by his side the entire day, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try to help in any way he could.

  
“If you need me, just text me. Most of my teachers like me, I could walk out and come meet up with you if you need to.”

  
“Thanks, Michael. You’re the best.”

  
“And don’t you forget it.” He pulled him into a hug, “Seriously though, I’m one text away and you know I will beat anyone up for you.”

  
“I’m not letting you get suspended on my behalf.”

  
“It'd be worth it.” Jeremy rolled his eyes and shoved Michael away.

“Go to class.” 

“As you wish!” He popped his headphones over his ears and walked away with a wave. Jeremy took a deep breath and turned to his classroom. 

“I can do this,” he mumbled softly to himself, stepping into the room. Almost immediately he caught Christine’s eyes and he froze to the spot. He wasn’t sure why seeing her terrified him the way it did. Why a sudden abyss of panic overtook his insides. The police had talked to him when he was ready. He had no memory of who took him, but he remembered being tortured for answers. They wanted the identities of the town heroes. He doesn’t understand why that would translate to a fear of his friends. It’s not like they took him. 

“Hi, Jeremy,” Christine said timidly. No doubt Michael had had a chat with all of them before. He swallowed his fear and gave her a smile since he doubted his words would work. “We’re glad to see you back at school, do you think you’re going to be able to come to rehearsal after school gets out?” 

“I—I don’t know,” he mumbled, “Maybe.” His voice shook and he hated it. He shook his head and beelined to his seat. He dropped his bag to the ground and rested his head on the desk and didn’t look up until he heard their teachers voice ring out for the start of class.   
The day passed in a bit of a blur. He was supposed to meet Michael on the roof for lunch, but Michael showed up nearly fifteen minutes late and when questioned about it he claimed he’d been cornered by Rich and Christine and questioned about something, although he wouldn’t let up on what it was. 

“It’s not my secret to tell, Jeremy, as much as I wish it was.” He smiled at him and they ate in comfortable silence. Jeremy spent the rest of the day debating if he wanted to go to play rehearsal after school. He wasn’t even sure if he was still a member of the play considering he’d been absent for a week and knowing Mr. Reys he wouldn’t care if Jeremy had been tortured or worse. Eventually, he made his decision though and after final bell, he walked into the auditorium with Michael at his side. 

Honestly, Jeremy felt a little bad. Michael probably had other things he wanted to do, and he’d already spent nearly every day for the past week hanging out with Jeremy after school, so asking him for more felt unfair. Still, Jeremy knew there was no way he would have been able to show up without a little support for his best friend.   
Christine looked a little surprised when Michael showed up. Jeremy wasn’t surprised. I’m sure they were hoping to finally get the chance to talk to Jeremy alone. 

“Wow, Michael, and you had the gall to call us overprotective,” Chloe sneered when the teen took a seat in the front row. 

“I asked him to come, Chloe, you can F _ _ _ off.” Michael whistles at the threat, obviously looking impressed. 

“And there you have it. Pretend I'm not here, but upset Jeremy at your own risk.” 

“How exactly are we not supposed to upset him when being in the same room freaks him out.” 

“I dunno, Rich. Why don’t you try to be creative, or is your brain too small to think of anything other than violence?” 

“Michael stop,” Jeremy ordered and Michael held his hands up in surrender. “Just wait outside. I’ll be fine, I swear.” 

“Alright.” He pushed himself out of the seat and walked back up the aisle leaving the auditorium. Jeremy immediately felt trapped as soon as the door closed behind his best friend and he turned to the stage to look at his friends…his friends who made him feel hopelessly afraid. He hated it. He hated it so much. He hated that he felt afraid of them. Hated how being around them made him feel like he was worthless. 

“Jeremy, we need to talk,” Christine said after a particularly long silence. 

“What? Another intervention?” He huffed. His fear was quickly warping into hate and anger. He was surprised how easy it was to be mad at them, but he shoved that thought aside as he realized no one was saying anything to him *again! “You have got to be joking.” 

“Jeremy, just hear us out.” He paused, debating if he should bother or not. 

“Fine.” He didn’t want to listen, but he figured he'd give them a chance at least. He refused to sit down and stayed silent to let the others speak. They glanced at each other before the others motioned Christine forward. No shocker, though. She always seemed to be the group's designated spokesperson. She looked nervous. 

“We don’t think you should be friends with Sebastian,” she finally managed to say, and Jeremy immediately felt rage bubble to the surface. 

“You have got to be joking.” 

“No. We’re not. We don’t think he’s a good person.” Jeremy stared, wondering if they were going to explain their reasoning or if they expected him to simply accept what they claimed as the truth. Sebastian was a lot of things, but a bad person wasn’t one of them. He was a friend, he had never done anything Jeremy would have classified is bad, at least in the context they were talking about. “We’ve heard rumors about him, Jeremy. People have been talking about an ultimate villain in the forums, someone so clever and sly that he can never be caught, and he can never be tied to the actual crime. A mastermind of sorts.” 

“And you think it’s Sebastian? Are you sure you’re not just jealous that I found new friends?” 

“We’re not jealous, we are worried!” Rich shot.

“You said you heard this in the forums? What forums?” They all shared a look. Jeremy couldn’t read it very well, but he doubted it would lead to anything good.

“We heard it on the hero network. They’ve been talking about this guy for a long time; think he’s traveling across the country. He never stays in the same place for long and he never seems to stay in places that stand out.”

“Well, our town is on the news every other week so—” 

“Jeremy we’re being serious!” 

“Why would you even have access to the hero networks?” He asked. “You’re not heroes!” They’d told him this time and time again, but now he was starting to doubt the validity of anything these people claimed. 

“We lied.” It was such a simple statement and one Jeremy had heard before from other people, but this time was different. This time hurt. “We are heroes, Jeremy. We’re New Borough’s main heroes.” Christine explained and went through and pointed them all out. Brooke was Phoenix Girl, Rich was Machete, Jake was Vortex, Chloe was Firefly, and worst of all, Christine was Mind Warp. Mind warp the girl Jeremy had been crushing on after Christine turned him down.

“You have got to be joking.” Jeremy stared at his so-called friends. They looked apologetic, but none of them said anything. “This has to be a f_ _ _ _ _ g joke,” he hissed. “The whole time it was you five? This whole time? No wonder I was kidnapped. They tortured me for information about you five. They were so sure I knew who they were, and they wouldn’t let me go until I told them. They wouldn’t let me go and it was only because of Michael and Sebastian that I was even rescued.” He paced the aisle briefly and shot a deathly glare their way. “You should have told me. Did you think I wouldn’t be able to keep a secret? Did you think that little of me?” 

“That’s not it at all!” Brooke cried, “We just…we didn’t want to put you in unnecessary danger.” 

“Right, well too late for that. Would you have even told me your identities if I hadn’t become friends with Sebastian? That’s why you told me right? You figured if I knew you were heroes I would trust your statement about his questionable morality? News flash, idiots! Sebastian has been more of a friend to me than you have!” 

“Jeremy, please! You have to trust us on this. He’s not who you think he is!” 

“No! You’re not who I thought you were!” Jeremy glared at each of them individually. “I don’t want to be around you anymore. Tell Mr. Reye’s that I’m sorry, but from today forward I will no longer be part of the play.” He turned on his heel and walked out the way he came, mind swirling with all sorts of unsavory and angry thoughts.  
Michael was still outside the theater doors waiting for him. He gave him a questioning look and Jeremy returned it with a still angry expression. 

“Did you know?” he asked. 

“I take it they told you then?” 

“So you knew?” 

“Yeah. I’ve been helping them from the sidelines occasionally, usually when they beg.” 

“You should have told me.” 

“It wasn’t my secret to tell,” Michael replied calmly. “But I warned them the risk of keeping it from you. You’re a trustworthy friend, there was no reason for them to keep it from you this long.” 

“They should have told me.”

“I know, buddy.” Michael didn’t try to comfort him or anything, but he pointed out the door. “I know you want to leave, and I don’t blame you. I heard his motorcycle nearby, so I’d bet money on him being in the parking lot.” 

“He’s got great timing.” Michael nodded and glanced out the door. He pushed himself off the wall and stopped Jeremy before he could walk out of the building.

“Be careful, Jeremy. Sebastian doesn’t seem like a bad person, but you can’t always tell.”

“You don’t trust him either?” 

“I don’t know how I feel about him yet. He doesn’t seem like a bad person, but I get an odd feeling from him like something isn’t quite right.” 

“He’s been good to me.” 

“I know. Call me if anything goes wrong. You know I won’t hold back when it comes to saving your sorry a_ _.” Jeremy smiled at that and held out his hand to initiate the handshake that the two of them had come up with when they were kids. 

“Don’t I always?” Michael followed his lead and then shoved him out the door. Jeremy left the school feeling slightly better than he had before. He wasn’t sure what it was about Michael, but his best friend could always lift his mood. That didn’t mean that he wasn’t still mad. No, he was still furious with his friends. He was happy to see Sebastian waiting in the parking lot with a spare helmet in his lap. 

“I thought I would pick you up today.”

“You’re timing is perfect, Seb.” 

“You’re upset.” 

“Yeah, I am.” The older teen lifted the visor of his helmet and looked directly at Jeremy. 

“Tell me about it.” Jeremy hesitates for a moment but started talking. 

“Turns out my so-called friends, the ones who have been so overprotective of me for the past year, are actually the heroes of the town. And they didn’t think they could trust me with that. Honestly, they only told me because they’re under the impression some mastermind villain.” 

“I can’t believe they let high schoolers be heroes. It’s not a safe profession,” Sebastian hummed, glancing over towards the theater. “High school is not for Heroes, Jeremy.” 

“Tell them that.” 

“We could change that if you want,” He held out the spare helmet for Jeremy, and caught his gaze again. “Would you like me to help you change that?” Jeremy couldn’t look away from Sebastian for what felt like minutes, and every angry thought he’d had about his friends surfaced in his memory. Every lie they told him, every trick they used to keep him in the dark. 

“Yeah. You’re right.” He accepted the helmet, “High school isn’t for heroes, and we need to do something about that.” Sebastian smiled as Jeremy pulled the protective gear over his head. Off in the distance, he heard someone calling his name and he knew by association it was Christine, but he ignored her, swung his leg over the back of the back and wrapped his arms around his driver’s waist. “Go!” He ordered, and Sebastian wasted no time zooming out of the parking lot. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian's learning.

Jeremy barely waited for Sebastian to stop the bike before he hopped off and stalked into the building. He beelined for the elevator hidden in the coat closet and waited until his driver arrived since Sebastian was the only one who could get in due to the fingerprint scanner.   
  
“You seem mad.”

“Was it that obvious?”

“Yes.” Sebastian pressed his hand against the scanner and ushered Jeremy onto the elevator.

“Good. I have every right to be mad. They should have told me.”

“About them being superheroes?”

“Yes!” Jeremy paced around on the elevator platform, waiting for them to descend into the basement that was Sebastian's home. His mind was reeling. He was annoyed and frustrated and hurt. Sure he hadn’t been friends with them for long, but he figured they should at least trust him. “Were they even my friends? I mean, they all suddenly became my friends after some incident I don’t remember from last year. What if they’re not actually my friends? What if they were just hovering around me out of some messed up sense of duty?”

“Hey, Jeremy?”

“They’ve been lying to me about there alter ego, they could have been lying about being my friends.”

“Jeremy?”

“I mean, they were barely friends! They acted more like my self-appointed babysitters!”

“Jeremy!” Sebastian pulled the younger teen to a stop, holding him by his shoulders. “Look at me!” he ordered, and Jeremy did. “I need you to calm down, okay? Can you do that for me?” He blinked absently before nodding.

“Uh…yeah.” Jeremy felt the anger rush out of him as he stared into Sebastian’s eyes. He tilted his head, trying to even remember why he’d been so mad. They reached the bottom and the doors swung open. Sebastian broke eye contact first, and when he did some of Jeremy's anger came flooding back in. He was still sorting through it all as Sebastian lead him to the living room.

“Sit.” Jeremy sat. “I’ll go get you something to drink.”

“Okay.” He watched Sebastian leave and sank back into the couch. He felt comfortable here. He was still mad, but the anger took a back seat while at Sebastian’s place. He didn’t know why, and he didn’t bother to question it. He liked being able to relax here. He liked Sebastian. He couldn’t fathom why the other’s thought he was some super villain of legendary status. It sounded outrageous; even more outrageous than High schoolers having to protect the town from impending doom. “High school students shouldn’t need to be heroes.”

“What was that?” Sebastian had returned, two mugs in hand. He passed one to Jeremy, who was immediately overwhelmed by the scent of cinnamon and hibiscus. It was dizzyingly strong, but Jeremy didn’t mind. He liked it. Sebastian took a seat across from Jeremy on the coffee table. “What were you saying about high schoolers?” He asked again. Jeremy had to think about it for a few moments. It was like the thought had been swept away, and he was struggling to find it again.

“Um…High schoolers shouldn’t have to be heroes. I mean, I know people lie, and are mean and what not, but we’ve barely lived our lives! We shouldn’t have to go about risking it.” Jeremy felt his stomach churn, thinking about all the battle’s their heroes had been fighting in. They weren’t new heroes, they’d been doing this for nearly two and a half years now. “Pheonix girl dies almost every battle, did you know that? Heart-stopping death, and then she just pops back to life like a phoenix. Brooke, it has to be Brooke now that I think about it. No wonder she’s so quiet. What kind of person would be able to simply shrug off dying and reviving like it’s nothing? That’s got to affect her heavily, and yet—”

“Jeremy, tell me what happened,” Sebastian said. Not an order, but a friendly request. “I want to help if I can.”

“You’re helping just by being my friend.” Jeremy took a sip of the tea, it warmed his insides, and he found himself smiling. “This is amazing.”

“It’s a special blend, one of my favorites. It usually helps me relax when I’m stressing out, so I figured it would be useful to you right now.” Seb sipped his own drink and looked back to Jeremy. “Now, why don’t you start from the beginning?” Jeremy hesitated. Despite his anger, somewhere in his mind, a voice was warning him to be more discrete with his friend’s secrets. At the same time, another voice was telling him they weren’t his friends or else they would have trusted him more.

“I—I don’t know if I should talk about it.” He sloshed his tea around, watching the liquid swirl slowly.

“You trust me, don’t you Jeremy?”

“Of course.”

“Jeremy, look at me please.” He did as asked and looked up at his friends face. He took note of the concern in his blue eyes and sighed.

“I trust you, Seb. I’m sorry. It’s just…I really thought they were my friends. I’ve never been great at making friends. Growing up I only had Michael, so I was ecstatic when Christine and the others decided to become my friends. I thought maybe I would get to have a seemingly normal high school life; hanging out with people after school, at there house or at the mall or something. I love Michael, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t want to just have one friend for my entire life.”

“I understand. It must have been frustrating being so alone like that.”

“It was hard, yeah. I mean, I wasn’t alone, not really, but I was still lonely you know? So I thought things might be different now, but they weren’t--arent. I don’t think they are my friends. I don’t think they ever wanted to be. Something happened to me last year-- something I don’t remember--and something no one will ever talk about. I tried to find newspaper articles about it, but there’s nothing. After that incident, the hero squad suddenly decided to become friends with me, and I’ve always had this sneaking suspicion they didn’t do it because they wanted to be friends, but because the felt guilty. I mean, I’m a loser, Seb. I’m a massive dork, who was so blatantly crushing on a girl I barely talked to who—now that I think about it—is also my superhero crush, which is equally as crushing since Christine already rejected me once.” He paused to sip his tea and collect his thoughts.

“You’re my friend, Sebastian. You and Michael are probably closest friends I have, right now. No ulterior motives, just friends because you like me. I should have known better than to believe that the most popular students at my lousy high school would ever want to be friends with someone like me.” He deflated a little at the thought. “I just wanted friends. I thought they were my friends, but they would have told me the truth earlier, right? Instead of telling me this in an attempt to validate their statement that you’re some mega-villain?”

“They think I’m a villain?” Jeremy nodded.

“Ridiculous, right? You’re one of the nicest people I know.”

“Well, I’m glad you think that.”

“It's the truth.” Jeremy leaned his head back against the couch and stared at the ceiling. “Why did they have to be superheroes? Aren’t these supposed to be the best days of our lives or some bull s_ _ _? Why do they have to waste them being heroes? I wish they could have just been my friends, no saving the town bull.”

“Is that what you want?” Jeremy perked up at the question.

“What do you mean?”

“Is that what you want? Do you want them to stop being heroes? You can make that happen you know?” Jeremy studied Sebastian’s face--his eyes--looking for some sign he was pulling his legs, but the longer he searched for signs of a lie the more curious he got.

“You sound like you know how to make something like that happen,” and then Sebastian smiled, And Jeremy felt his chest go light. The kind of lightness he felt when Christine had smiled at him in the hallways or said hello, back before she rejected him.

“That depends.” Sebastian stood and motioned Jeremy to follow. He led them through the house towards a more mechanical sector. Jeremy had been in here briefly before when Sebastian had given him a short tour. It was the lab, it’s where the technopath did most of his work. “I told you before the squip has a lot of different function. One, of which, is to heighten the user's senses, make them generally more aware of their surroundings. It was designed to make soldiers more efficient in their duties, but I didn’t give you a standard model. I gave you a newer model. Since the device is rooted in your brain stem, it can send signals to the brain and alter certain functions. One of the abilities is that you can download an ability.”

“Download an ability?” Jeremy repeated as Sebastian moved to the seat before the monitor. He pulled a document of information that Jeremy couldn’t make heads or tails of.

“Well, I can download a specific ability that goes hand in hand with the squip's primary functions anyway. With a simple upgrade, you can gain the ability to alter people’s brainwaves temporarily.”

“So, like mind control.”

“Sort of, but not really. It's like altering their desires? Do you really think that your friends want to risk their lives every day? They're still kid’s, Jeremy. All you’re doing is changing their desire to enjoy life by making it greater than their obligation to save people.”

“But you said it’s only temporary,” Jeremy wasn’t sure what he thought about this, but he wasn’t about to say no. He wasn’t sure what he was even thinking. He just wanted normal friends. Friends who wouldn’t lie to him or be around him because they feel guilty.

“Temporary, yes; however, you can make it permanent. During this temporary alteration, if you get them to take a squip it can become permanent. The chip will rest on their brain stem and send signals to their mind which will continue to amplify their desire to be normal high schoolers.”

“This doesn’t sound right,” It felt like he was invading their privacy or manipulating their will. And as much as Jeremy wanted his friend group to be normal, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to make it happen with a method like this.

“Don’t think of it as a matter of right or wrong. Think of it as a public service,” Sebastian spun around in his chair once, before jumping to his feet and stepping up to Jeremy. He took him by the chin, ever so gently, and forced him to keep eye contact, although it didn’t feel so forced to Jeremy. He just assumed his friend was concerned. “Think of it as saving them from themselves, Jeremy. Your friends don’t want to be heroes. They’re kids. They’re not supposed to be putting their lives on the line like this, right?”

Jeremy’s mind felt fuzzy, but everything Sebastian was saying made perfect sense. “They shouldn’t have to put their life on the line, You’re right about that.”

“Exactly, Jeremy. They should get to be normal teenagers. They shouldn’t have to carry such a heavy burden of protecting the adults. There are plenty of capable ability users who could easily step in to take their place.”

“You’re right, there are. They shouldn’t have to be heroes.”

“You want to help them, right? Save them from themselves?”

“Of course, I do.” Sebastian smiled and stepped away. Sebastian’s eyes looked like they were glowing. They drew in Jeremy's attention. Sebastian’s eyes had always been rather mesmerizing, but there was something different about them. Jeremy wasn’t entirely concerned about his friend’s eyes though, they were already a stunning electric blue, so it was probably a trick of the light. He was more concerned about his friends, who he was certain were trapped in the role of hero.

“I’m not going to force you to do anything Jeremy. These are your friends, so this is your choice.” Sebastian returned to his seat in front of the monitor, turning away from Jeremy to type something up. Jeremy hesitated, before walking up beside Sebastian.

“I know you won’t force me, Seb, thank you for that, but you will help me if this is what I want to do?”

“Of course, Jeremy. What are friends for?” He bit his lip, thinking of the girl he’d loved and the friends who always seemed so tired and so busy. Who were struggling to keep up with their work sometimes and nodding off in class. They didn’t deserve that. They shouldn’t have to deal with such a burden.

“Alright. Okay. Help me save them from themselves, Sebastian. They shouldn’t have to be heroes. High school is not for Heroes.” Sebastian smiled, and Jeremy felt that odd lightness in his chest again. It was such a soft and encouraging smile and made him feel like he was making the right choice.

“If this is what you want, Jeremy, then I’ll help, but first we need to upgrade your squip.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such the long break. School's a struggle, but I had a little free time today so I churned out this chapter. I hope you like it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh Jeremy...What have you done?

Jeremy didn't return home until early the next morning. It was a mistake, one he was fully aware of when his alarm went off a few hours later. Jeremy didn’t want to go. Jeremy wanted to sleep until his body physically wouldn't allow him to sleep anymore, but school had attendance and his attendance was already crap. Exhaustion wasn't the only reason Jeremy wanted to stay home. He was still pretty mad about what had happened the day before, but at least now he had his a solution. He hoped it would solve everything. Besides, the reason he had gotten so little sleep was because he'd been trying to figure out how this new power of his worked. Sebastian had taken him around town teaching him how to use it on live subjects until Jeremy had the hang of it. He'd wanted to get started on their plan as soon as possible. He wanted to save his friends as soon as possible. And that motivation is what actually dragged him out of his bed.

 

Of course, there was the small problem of the entire drama squad believed he hated him, so the first thing Jeremy did upon arriving at school was seek them all out individually and apologize. It threw them for a loop, sure, but they seemed to accept it. Why wouldn’t they accept it? It wasn’t hard to fool them. All Jeremy had to do was play into everything they had been worried about the day before.

 

_“I’m so sorry for snapping at you all. I shouldn’t have acted that way, I know you are only trying to watch out for me. I was just really tired, I haven't been able to sleep much lately, and I snapped. I really do value all of your opinions, and if you believe that my friendship with Sebastian is a risk, I’ll at least try to limit my time with him. But he hasn’t done anything to warrant me completely cutting ties, so I won't burn that bridge yet. If he does do anything, I’ll accept your ‘I told you so’ without putting up a fight.”_

 

It had been so simple. They ate up the apology as if there hadn't been a drastic shift in Jeremy's mood from the day before. They didn't even question him. Of course, he hadn't been lying, either. He would limit the time he spent with Sebastian for a few days because Sebastian had already provided everything Jeremy he needed to save his friends. The other squips were hidden away in his pants pocket in a little baggy, and Jeremy planned on convincing the entire drama squad to take one of them before final bell today.

 

“Yo! Jeremy!” Michael called, walking over towards his best bud. Jeremy closed his locker and turned to face him. He didn’t have a pill for Michael. Michael wasn’t a problem. Besides, Sebastian liked Michael, and Jeremy liked Michael, and neither of them thought he needed to change.

 

“Michael! My main bro! My player one! My best Buddy! How goes the morn?” The Filipino paused, looking at the other inquisitively.

 

“Did someone spike your juice this morning?”

 

“I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night,” Jeremy admitted rubbing his neck nervously. “I was a little high strung after everything that happened at play rehearsal yesterday and my nerves didn’t settle until almost six in the morning.”

 

“So you’re tired? But no, you have too much energy to be tired.”

 

“I decided to be adventurous today and brewed coffee using five-hour energy instead of water,” Jeremy admitted. Michael nodded his head understandingly as if that was a normal course of action to fight off the sleep.

 

“Alright, cool. Should I have 911 on standby or just go ahead and call them now?”

 

“I’m messing, dude. I did down maybe three cups of coffee though. It’ll probably last me till the morning.”

 

“Right, well there’s energy drinks in the vending machines, and you know I have my caffeine stash hidden in a place where the sun don’t shine. If you find yourself crashing and need a little extra boost, I’m your man, but that’s not why I came over here.” Jeremy deadpanned.

 

“You mean you didn’t walk all the way over here to greet your best friend? What kind of ulterior motive do you have today?”

 

“No Ulterior motive, my man, just a question. Christine says you apologized about yesterday. I’m glad to hear you didn’t burn down all of your bridges, I would have been a lot more worried about you than I currently am.”

 

“You’re worried about me? That’s so sweet, Mikey!”

 

“Oh hush,” he huffed. “I’m really sorry for not telling you about them, Jer. You know I would have, but it’s not my secret to share. I've been telling them they need to let you into the loop. I’m glad they finally did, although it sucks they did it the way they did.”

 

“Yeah. Seb’s really not a bad guy. You think so too, don’t you?”

 

“He seems pretty chill to me, and I trust your judgment, Jer. If you think he’s a good guy, then who am I to oppose? Not gonna lie, he gives me some bad vibes sometimes, but he hadn’t done anything worth warranting my suspicion. I’d have told you already if he had.” Because that’s how the two of them interacted. They didn’t keep secrets if they could help it.

 

“Yeah, okay. Thanks for having my back, Michael. It means a lot.”

 

“Any time P2,” Michael backed away and gave him his usual two-fingered salute.  “I gotta get to class, we have Mrs. Cackle as a sub. She's a nutcase and will lock me out if I'm late. I'll see ya when I see ya, okay?”

 

“Alright.” Jeremy waved farewell to his best friend before heading towards his own class. He arrived a little early, hoping to catch Christine before the bell. He waited by the doorway until he saw her walking towards their class from down the hall. He waved and walked over, looping his arm around hers and redirecting her somewhere else.

 

“We still have a lot to talk about, Christine,” he informed casually as if he wasn’t asking her to ditch class. “Can we go somewhere to talk?” He could feel her initial stiffness, but she eventually relaxed and allowed Jeremy to lead her away from the classroom. He thought about heading to the theater, but Mr. Rayes would be taking a nap in there like he usually did at the beginning of the day. There was a P.E class in the gym first period as well, so behind the bleachers was a no go. Eventually, Jeremy decided that the media box on top of the bleachers for the football stadium would be a safe bet, so he led them there while happily talking to Christine as if the argument the day before hadn’t happened.

 

“You know, we really are sorry for keeping the truth from you, Jeremy,” Christine said as Jeremy messed with the lock on the door. He let the squip help him figure out how to unlock it without looking suspicious and held the door open for Christine.

 

“Christine it’s okay. I was just shocked,” Jeremy assured as he followed her in. “I’m sure you had your reasons, but I still have so many questions.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure you do. That’s understandable. I’ll answer them the best I can, although there may be a few things that would be better for the others to explain themselves.”

 

“I understand. I’d just appreciate if you would be honest with me with what you can.”

 

“And you’re certain you’re not mad?” She asked again, brushing her hair behind her ear. She looked nervous, but Jeremy assumed it was because she wasn’t used to coming clean about her best-kept secret.

 

“I had some time to think about everything last night. I may have overreacted. I was just shocked.”

 

“Rightfully so. And it’s not something we ever wanted to keep from you. Michael kept telling us to tell you, said it would be better for all of us, but we didn’t want to put you in unnecessary danger, especially since you don’t have an ability.”

 

“Appreciated,” Jeremy thumbed the bag of pills in his pocket. Hopefully, they would be able to solve all of their problems. They had already solved one of Jeremy’s main problems. “Seriously, Christine, I appreciate how much you all look out for me, but I can take care of myself. You don’t need to worry about me. I’ve survived this long, haven’t I?” Of course, that also had a lot to do with Mikey. He was like Captain America’s shield. Ready and waiting to protect when necessary. Protect and attack. Michael had gotten detention more than once for standing up to Jeremy’s bullies.

 

“So, what exactly do you want to know?” Christine asked. “I’m sure the school is going to call our parents about ditching, so we probably only have so much time before we need to head back.

 

“I just want to know why.” It was a simple question, but for Jeremy, there was so much behind it. “Why did you decide to become heroes?” The hero squad had been around since right before they started high school. They were too young for this. He’d seen almost all of their battles. It was rare for all of them to walk away unscathed. 

 

“There was a need,” Christine said with a shrug as if she hadn’t witnessed Brooke die countless times only to come back to life like a phoenix. “And no one else was going to take up the mantle. We were able, so we did what we could.”

 

“You’re kids,” Jeremy hissed, more venom in his voice than he meant to let slip. “We’re high schoolers, Christine. This shouldn’t be your job. You should be able to just be high school students. Haven’t you ever wanted that?” he asked placing his hand on her arm. “Just to be a normal student? Worry about normal things? Not have to worry and prepare for the next second-hand villain attack that’s going to drift into town?” His voice had gone soft, and Christine’s eyes had glazed slightly.

 

“It’s what we have to do,” she informed, although the way she spoke—the way she tilted her head—made it clear she was questioning it. “If we don’t do it, who will?”

 

“Someone will fill the void, Christine. It’s not your place to take up what should be an adult’s job. Teenagers should not have to protect the adults. High school is not for heroes. High school is for teenagers who are still young enough to blame their actions on the immaturity of their age. High school is for sneaking out after hours to a party, or to a movie, or to just hang out by the river.” Jeremy could tell his ability was working. Sebastian had made it clear that the only thing he needed was physical contact for his ability to take effect. Based on the hazy look in his friend's eyes he knew it was working. He could probably tell her anything and she'd agree. He could probably tell her to do anything and she wouldn’t fight it. “High school’s not for Heroes, Christine. You agree with me, right?”

 

“I—” she took in a long breath, before blinking the fog away from her eyes and looking at Jeremy. “Yeah, I guess. High school isn’t a time for us to play at being heroes. We shouldn’t even _have_ to play at being heroes. We’re just kids!”

 

“Right!” Jeremy agreed, happy she saw it his way. “You’re just kids. You shouldn’t be throwing yourself into the line of fire. I’m happy you understand this. When you told me yesterday that all of you were the heroes who protected the city, and I wasn’t actually mad at you. I was madder that you’d been forced into that position. You shouldn't have to risk your life. I was just worried about you—all of you.”

 

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Thanks for worrying about us, Jeremy. I’m glad we have a friend like you.” There was something in his gut that made him feel guilty watching Christine agree with him so easily. She wasn’t like this usually. She was stubborn and had a big heart. Jeremy knew she would never give up her role as a hero, and not because of a shallow reason like a big ego, but because it was how she helped people. Even so, Jeremy didn’t want to watch his friends get hurt…or worse. He shouldn’t have to watch them go through that. He wouldn’t. He was doing this for them. He was doing this for them. He would protect them no matter the cost.

 

“If you really don’t think you should have to be a hero—shouldn’t have to carry that burden—then I have a solution for you.” He dug the pill out of his pocket and held it out to Christine. She eyed it wearily, but Jeremy gave her wrist a reassuring squeeze and she relaxed. “Take this and you’ll never have to play at being a hero again.”

 

“You want me to take drugs?”

 

“Do you trust me?” She looked between the pill and Jeremy, before nodding.

 

“I trust you, Jeremy.”

 

“Then take the pill. I promise everything will be better after. The only thing you’ll have to worry about is being a normal student and passing the algebra test next week.” Christine seemed to be weighing the options, but Jeremy kept his hand loosely around her wrist and kept an encouraging smile on his face until she finally caved. She accepted the pill, pulled out her water bottle and swallowed it quickly. Jeremy wasn’t sure what he expected to happen after. He didn’t remember much from when he first took the pill, but he was ready to catch Christine if she fell, and he really thought she was going to. She swayed on her feet, skin going pale and eyes glazing over so severely, Jeremy wondered if she’d passed out on her feet.

 

“I don’t feel so good,” she admitted.

 

“Don’t worry, it’ll pass,” Jeremy promised, letting Christine lean her weight against him to stay steady. “And when it passes, everything will be perfect again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while. this chapter have me a lot of trouble, and school's been giving me a lot of trouble. I won't promise an update schedule, but I promise the update will eventually happen. I intend to finish this story, and when i say it i mean it (ex: the Secret Saturdays Fanfiction i started in 2013 and finally finished earlier his year). Not saying i'm going to take that long to finish this, but when i say i will finish this story, i will finish the story. Life just gets in the way sometimes. 
> 
> Its a short chapter, sorry about that. hope you enjoy it regardless.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought! Hopefully I'll be able to update soon.


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